Overview
Obesity is a leading global health challenge, recognized by the World Health Organization and the European Commission as a chronic disease with wide-reaching implications for patients and healthcare systems. A recent scoping review consolidates what is known about obesity-related competencies for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and why these competencies matter for multidisciplinary, evidence-based care.
Why competency-based education (CBE) matters in obesity care
As obesity is increasingly understood as multifactorial and chronic, education for HCPs must evolve beyond outdated models. Competency-based education (CBE) explicitly defines the observable skills, knowledge and behaviors required for high-quality care. This approach supports shared understanding across disciplines, standardizes assessment methods, and promotes cohesive, multidisciplinary obesity management that aligns with current evidence and guidelines.
Scope and methods of the scoping review
The review searched PubMed, CINAHL Plus and ERIC from 2014 to 2024, identifying 22 original studies across the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Designs ranged from pre-post intervention studies to randomized trials, consensus papers and qualitative analyses. The goal was to identify obesity-related competencies for HCP education and to group them into coherent domains that could guide curriculum development across professions.
Key competency domains
From the included literature, eleven core competency domains emerged, with forty-one subdomains identified. The most frequently emphasized areas were:
- Clinical Assessment: physical measurements (e.g., weight status) and subjective assessment of lifestyle and readiness for change.
- Clinical Management: integrating clinical reasoning with evidence-based interventions, including exercise, diet, behavior change techniques and patient education.
- Background Knowledge: obesity as a chronic disease, its comorbidities, determinants, staging and pharmacological or surgical options.
- Patient-Centered Care: shared decision-making, cultural competence and addressing patient preferences with sensitivity to bias and stigma.
- Communication: clinician-patient communication, community-facing dialogue, and interprofessional communication.
- Public Health and Health Promotion: disease prevention, community health strategies, and surveillance.
- Health Systems and Technology: service development, e-health tools, and integrating digital health into care pathways.
- Advocacy and Education: advocating for equitable services and ongoing HCP education in obesity care.
- Evidence-Based Practice: applying current research to clinical decisions and guideline-concordant care.
Other domains highlighted the importance of professionalism, ethics, and bias reduction—recognizing obesity stigma as a barrier to care. Notably, several studies pointed to the need for discipline-specific competencies while also identifying areas of consensus across professions.
Implications for curricular design
The scoping review suggests that obesity education should be embedded across entry-level and continuing professional development curricula, with a move toward interdisciplinary programs that reflect real-world clinical practice. Key implications include:
- Adopting a shared, multidisciplinary framework that accommodates diverse HCP roles while preserving discipline-specific essentials.
- Incorporating objective competency assessments, such as practical exams or standardized patient encounters, alongside self-reported measures.
- Embedding training on bias and stigma reduction as explicit competencies, not just background knowledge.
- Linking curricula to accreditation and regulatory expectations to ensure sustained emphasis on obesity care.
There is a recognized need to broaden research beyond traditional medical and nursing education to include disciplines like physiotherapy, dietetics, pharmacy and radiography, and, importantly, to incorporate paediatric obesity competencies given rising childhood prevalence.
Future directions
Developing robust, theory-informed competency frameworks remains essential. A six-step approach, including purpose definition, user audience, real-world context, practice assessment, and ongoing updates, is recommended. The current review underlines how education must evolve in step with scientific advances and societal needs, ensuring HCPs can deliver compassionate, effective obesity care across populations.
Conclusion
As obesity is formally recognised as a chronic disease, competency-based education offers a practical, scalable path to better prepare healthcare professionals for comprehensive obesity prevention and management. The identified domains provide a foundation for multidisciplinary curricula, with ongoing refinement to reflect new evidence and diverse clinical contexts.
