Title: A change of the aspect of quality of life in the weight loss intervention Vanebryderne.
Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how the weight loss intervention Vanebryderne can be altered in order to increase the chances of developing the quality of life for the children in a positive direction.
Method: The frame of this thesis is inspired by an impact assessment. The used methods are informal field interviews with the project manager from Vanebryderne; semi-structured interviews with six families, all of whom have participated in the intervention, observation of a training session in Vanebryderne; and an extensive literature study.
Results: The results of the informal field interviews helped clarify unclear elements in how Vanebryderne is working with the aspect of quality of life. The interviews show that the experience of how Vanebryderne is working with quality of life varies between families. Furthermore, it appears that the families participating in Vanebryderne experienced a range of family related challenges that may be of importance for their participation in the intervention. The observation of the training session shows that the physiotherapists are working from an appreciative pedagogical approach to the children and that the children increased quality of life through joy of movement and social relations. The literature study shows that the validated measurement model PedsQL can document the development of quality of life of the children.
Conclusion: The results of the thesis show that change in how Vanebryderne is working with the aspect of quality of life is needed. It is recommended that Vanebryderne structures their protocol by clarifying their perspectives on quality of life and how they plan to incorporate it. Furthermore it is proposed that Vanebryderne informs the families involved in the initiative about its perspectives and how they plan to work with quality of life. In order to document the effect of how Vanebryderne is working with quality of life, the thesis group recommend that the PedsQL model is implemented. Finally, it is proposed that Vanebryderne makes a room available and encourage the parents to share experiences and lessons learned during the intervention.