Strategic workshop aimed at strengthening local services and training in the prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity within academic institutions
Strategic workshop aimed at strengthening local services and training in the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity in academic institutions – Vicky Drapeau/Marie-Eve Mathieu/Dr. Mélanie Henderson
The steady increase in childhood obesity in Quebec calls for concerted action: a strategic workshop was therefore proposed to develop a sustainable solution. The workshop aimed to identify needs, existing resources, and levers to mobilize in order to implement an interuniversity and interdisciplinary initiative targeting the prevention and management of pediatric obesity in Quebec. This initiative will deploy community-based services for families through universities, while training future health professionals (nutrition, kinesiology, etc.). etc.). This consultation process was conducted in February and March 2025 through workshops held in Montreal and Quebec City, bringing together more than 100 participants from academic, clinical, community, and ministerial circles, and semi-structured interviews with families (n=7) who had experienced situations related to childhood obesity.
The resulting project will implement an inter-center pilot program, first at Laval University, then at other universities. It will offer high-quality, affordable, family-centered services for children with obesity (even without severe complications), leveraging university infrastructure and services already available in hospitals, certain obesity clinics, and family medicine groups. The goal is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this new interdisciplinary university-community model, with the ambition of extending it to all Quebec universities to create an integrated provincial network for the management and prevention of childhood obesity.