Table 5.
Example of the 5A’s approach to weight management
| Ask |
- Permission to discuss weight - Measure body mass index - About comorbidities - About other factors related to health risk, e.g. smoking, alcohol, exercise |
| Assess |
- How do you feel about your weight at the moment? - Do you feel ready to think about losing some weight/improving your fitness/health? |
| Advise |
- ‘The best thing you can do for your health is to lose weight’ - Promote the benefits of a healthy lifestyle - Explain the benefits of weight loss for the specific surgery |
| Assist |
- The particular approach to follow will depend on results of the ‘assess’ phase, i.e. how ready the patient is to act on their obesity: patients may be ready, unsure, or not ready to change - Help patient to identify and plan to address the barriers to weight loss that are relevant to them - Help patient to start to develop a weight management plan |
| Arrange | - Referral and follow-up as required (e.g. to a primary care physician, dietician, exercise physiologist or psychologist) to oversee long-term weight management |