• Karen M Ashe, Alan C Geller, Jyothi A Pendharkar, Lori Pbert, Sybil Crawford, Melissa A Clark, Christine F Frisard, Cassie A Eno, Jamie Faro, and Judith K Ockene.
• Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts.
• Am J Prev Med. 2021 May 1; 60 (5): 711715711-715.

IntroductionClinical guidelines support physician intervention consistent with the Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange framework for adults who have obesity. However, weight management counseling curricula vary across medical schools. It is unknown how frequently students receive experiences in weight management counseling, such as instruction, observation, and direct experience.MethodsA cross-sectional survey, conducted in 2017, of 730 third-year medical students in 8 U.S. medical schools assessed the frequency of direct patient, observational, and instructional weight management counseling experiences that were reported as summed scores with a range of 0‒18. Analysis was completed in 2017.ResultsStudents reported the least experience with receiving instruction (6.5, SD=3.9), followed by direct patient experience (8.6, SD=4.8) and observational experiences (10.3, SD=5.0). During the preclinical years, 79% of students reported a total of ≤3 hours of combined weight management counseling instruction in the classroom, clinic, doctor's office, or hospital. The majority of the students (59%-76%) reported never receiving skills-based instruction for weight management counseling. Of the Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange framework, scores were lowest for assisting the patient to achieve their agreed-upon goals (31%) and arranging follow-up contact (22%).ConclusionsOverall exposure to weight management counseling was less than optimal. Medical school educators can work toward developing a more coordinated approach to weight management counseling.Copyright © 2021 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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