Physician Attitudes on the Status, Value, and Future of Board Certification in Lifestyle Medicine

Objective: To assess physician attitudes on the status, value, and future of board certification in lifestyle medicine (LM). Study design: Cross-sectional survey of physician members of the American College of LM. Methods: A 49-item, web-based survey with a 5-point Likert response scale. Results: The 351 respondents did not differ significantly from the eligible sample of 6334 members regarding gender (68% female), country of residence (88% U.S), or census region, but did include more ABLM diplomates (63% vs 22%). Certification by ABLM was considered a source of personal pride (95% agree or strongly agree) that could help in marketing clinical services (85%) and potentially increase job opportunities (60%). Certification by ABLM is sufficient for certification needs (67%), but there was interest (65%) in LM becoming a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) as an aspirational goal (48%). Few respondents (22%) practiced intensive therapeutic lifestyle change (ITLC) even though most (57%) considered it an essential aspect of LM. There was agreement (94%) that LM is essential to mainstream medicine. Conclusion: Survey respondents, regardless of certification s