Doctors' communication style can boost patients' weight loss success, first of its kind study from Oxford finds

The research comes at a time when obesity treatment guidelines encourage doctors to discuss weight loss with patients and offer them referrals to weight loss services if appropriate. This gap between policy and practice reveals a need to better understand what the best communication approaches are for doctors to use. Bad news: Doctors highlight health issues related to being overweight and stress the effort needed from the patient for results. By presenting weight loss help positively and as an opportunity, they can significantly boost patients' motivation to act. The full paper, 'Relationship Between Clinician Language and the Success of Behavioral Weight Loss Interventions', can be read in Annals of Internal Medicine.