PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Doug Klein AU - Khursheed Jeejeebhoy AU - Angelo Tremblay AU - Matthew Kallio AU - Caroline Rheaume AU - Serena Humphries AU - Dawna Royall AU - Paula Brauer AU - Daren Heyland AU - Rupinder Dhaliwal AU - David M. Mutch TI - The CHANGE program DP - 2017 Jul 01 TA - Canadian Family Physician PG - 546--552 VI - 63 IP - 7 4099 - http://www.cfp.ca/content/63/7/546.short 4100 - http://www.cfp.ca/content/63/7/546.full SO - Can Fam Physician2017 Jul 01; 63 AB - Problem addressed Primary care settings require a feasible program for integrating lifestyle interventions, which can reverse metabolic abnormalities, for patients in practice.Objective of program To integrate a lifestyle intervention program into existing primary care clinics with an interprofessional approach that includes dietitians and kinesiologists.Program description Canadian Health Advanced by Nutrition and Graded Exercise (CHANGE) provides a personalized approach to nutrition and exercise modification focusing on patients with metabolic syndrome. With CHANGE, exercise intervention is individualized (ie, tailored to individual preferences) and graded (ie, intensity is built up slowly over time); supervision and implementation of the program is conducted in a collaborative fashion between the family physician and the kinesiologist. Patients undergo an initial fitness assessment that determines their baseline aerobic, strength, and flexibility scores, and the same assessment is performed at 3 months and at 12 months.Conclusion The CHANGE program demonstrates how interprofessional primary care teams can support patients with metabolic syndrome in achieving their health goals. By including dietitians and kinesiologists in primary care settings to work alongside family doctors, many barriers to lifestyle interventions can be overcome. The team’s collaborative understanding of the patient combined with the patient’s own sense of urgency for change creates the opportunity for the formation of new healthy lifestyle habits. Although results are preliminary, CHANGE appears to be a feasible, implementable, and effective program.