Effects of medical trainees' weight-loss history on perceptions of patients with obesity

Medical Education
Rebecca L PearlThomas A Wadden

Abstract

Medical professionals often express weight-biased attitudes. Prior research suggests that people who overcome a challenge are critical of individuals who struggle to overcome the same challenge. Thus, medical trainees who have successfully achieved and maintained weight loss may express greater weight bias and more critical attitudes toward patients with obesity who fail to overcome these challenges. This study was designed to determine the effects of medical trainees' weight-loss history on weight-biased attitudes and responses to patients with varying weight-loss outcomes. An online survey was completed by 219 medical students and internal medicine residents. Participants' weight-biased attitudes were assessed before they were randomly assigned to read one of three patient vignettes in which the patient lost no weight, lost/regained weight, or lost/maintained weight. Independent measures included trainee gender, trainee weight loss and maintenance, and the three experimental conditions of patient outcomes. Dependent measures included the Anti-Fat Attitudes (AFA) Questionnaire's Willpower and Dislike subscales, ratings (on a scale of 1-7) of compassion, frustration, and blame toward the patients presented in the vignettes, and...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 13, 2017·Medical Education·Sean M Phelan, Tamim I Rajjo
Mar 18, 2020·Medical Education Online·Adeline L GossHorace M DeLisser
Jun 12, 2020·International Journal of Obesity : Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity·Rebecca L PearlKathryn E Michel
Apr 15, 2021·Eating and Weight Disorders : EWD·Janet A LydeckerCarlos M Grilo

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