Level 4 Obesity and Diabetes Management Certificate (Part Time)

This Level 4 Certificate in Obesity & Diabetes Management represents 10 years of research from the leading obesity and weight management organisation in the Health and Fitness Industry.

Weight Management Centre Ltd (Discovery Learning's parent company) deliver obesity services to thousands of adults and children across the UK and provide weight management and obesity intervention services on behalf of multiple Health Authorities.

In our 16 years of activity, we are proud to say that we have trained over 10,000 eager fitness professionals who later went on to further learn and develop their careers with the same initial enthusiasm.

So, once you have made the decision to start a new career or develop your professional skills, you can be sure that Discovery Learning is one of the best choices.

What will I learn on the course?

This piece of work is authored by experts in this field who are qualified to MSc level or are Dietitians or Registered Nutritionists working with clinically obese clients daily. The course is designed for practitioners and Personal Trainers wishing to work in obesity and diabetes management, and the skills learned on the course represent current best clinical practice.

You will also receive a separate REPs accredited certificate in Motivational Interviewing and Behaviour Change as part of this course. The course is updated each quarter and as such represents the most up to date piece of work you will encounter, with over 500 references covering, physical activity behaviour change and nutrition, as well as a wealth of practical tools for assisting your clients.

Aims of the course:

• Have a thorough understanding of the underpinning factors driving the obesity pandemic, including social, behavioural and physiological determinants of obesity Understand the linkages of obesity to disease and the development of the metabolic disruptions associated with excess adiposity.
• Have a clear understanding of diabetes, its common forms, symptoms, diagnosis, pathophysiology, treatment, dietary and exercise management.
• Have the knowledge and information to set up a NICE compliant obesity management programme and the skills to lead one to one intensive interventions or group programmes.
• Know how to effectively assess a client: stage and progression of obesity, comorbidity, functionality, mobility, physical fitness, risk, psychological issues including preparedness for change, dietary assessment etc.
• Have expertise in designing weight reduction programmes for obese subjects involving physical activity, behaviour modification and nutritional advice.
• Work with all BMI ranges of obese and diabetic clients to develop meaningful and realistic targets and goals and know how to review and adapt goals accordingly.
• Be able to develop safe and effective exercise programmes for obese clients with multiple comorbidities and in particular diabetes and metabolic syndrome
• Understand the risks associated with working with obese and diabetic clients in an exercise setting.
• Have an in-depth knowledge of the environmental, social and cultural aspects of population obesity sufficient to lead on aspects of policy design and strategy development.
• Outline the credible prevention and intervention strategies to combat obesity at a local and national level, and advise on the design and implementation of both obesity interventions and prevention programmes

Course Content:

• An overview of the obesity pandemic: Prevalence of obesity, impact of early life and growth patterns.
• Economic consequences of an obese population.
• The obesogenic environment, economic and social drivers of food and drink consumption.
• Causes, aetiology and pathogenesis of obesity related disease.
• The impact of obesity mortality and morbidity and in particular diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.
• Pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery and post-operative management. Weight gain - an explanation, set point theory, the obesity cycle of self-perpetuation.
• Sleep and obesity, genetic susceptibility, epigenetics and the phenotype, Adipocyte biology, fat deposition and distribution.
• Basic concepts of human energetics.
• Chemical signals, hormones and neurotransmitters in energy regulation.
• Integrated Models of Food Control.
• Food Cravings and Addictions. Why do we eat when we are not hungry?
• Determinants of food choice, and a review of dietary regimes for weight loss, High Protein Diets.
• Weight Maintenance. Exercise for obese and or diabetic clients: ACSM on appropriate levels of PA for Weight Loss & preventing regain.
• Providing a safe and effective physical activity plan. Walking programmes, exercise and diabetes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, exercise and obesity.
• Barriers to physical activity.
• Human Behaviour and theories of behaviour change: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT); Motivational Interviewing (MI); Health Belief Model (HBM); Theory of Self Efficacy (SET). Strategies for Changing Behaviour theoretical and practical.
• Social Marketing; a practical explanation. Setting up a weight management intervention: NICE guidelines, client assessment, risk stratification and screening, guidance on the assessment of clients, body measurements and calculations.
• Programme management, administration, client confidentiality and record keeping

FORMAT

How long is the Level 4 Obesity and Diabetes Management course?

The course is likely to take 12 to 16 weeks to complete and is a combination of home study and attendance. You will undertake approximately 200 hours of learning involving online and face to face tutorials. You will need to attend two days of practical workshops at one of our national academies.

Where can I do the course?

We run this course at our West London, Manchester, Cardiff and Bournemouth venues.

ASSESSMENT

What assessments will I need to complete?

Formative assessment (During the course). This aspect is included to assist learning and does not form part of the final assessment, and as such will not influence the final result.

1. Completion and submission of home study workbook Obesity and Diabetes management.
2. Completion and submission of home study workbook Human Nutrition
3. Multiple Choice and written open questions mock papers

Summative Assessment (End of course)

1. 40 Question multiple choice examination
2. 3 open questions (up to 200 word response each)
3. Multi component case study based upon a real person with a =BMI 30kg/m2

What support will I get?

You will be supported throughout your studies by our expert student support team that you can contact by telephone, e-mail, live chat or Skype. This course is also supported by a fully interactive online learning package that is completely free with the course. This contains videos, interactive tutorials and lots of visual aids and learning tools to make your education more enjoyable and effective.

This course is for those fitness professionals that wish to progress to level 4 on the register of exercise professionals (REP’s) and in particular those wishing to successfully manage obese and diabetic clients.

Students from both the health sector and the fitness industry attend this course and at the practical attendance days you will meet with many people from a variety of backgrounds and professions. The group workshops are unique learning environments with lots of opportunity to explore your ideas alongside health practitioners and a wide variety of health, fitness and wellness professionals.

If you are in the fitness industry and you wish to progress to level 4 on the Register of Exercise Professionals (REP’s) you will need to be a level 3 personal trainer or have a level 3 Fitness Qualification. Also you will have to complete (or have completed) the level 3 Exercise Referral course to register at level 4.

You will receive the Level 4 Obesity and Diabetes Management Certificate which is a Skills Active Award and a nationally recognised qualification along with 20 REP’s points. You will also receive a REP’s Accredited Certificate in Behaviour change and motivational interviewing providing you with a further 4 REP’s points.

Certificate of completion

Digital certificate - Included