The effect of a multifaceted intervention including classroom education and bariatric weight suit use on medical students’ attitudes towards patients with obesity

Abstract

Introduction Weight bias refers to negative attitudes towards individuals because of their weight. Evidenced-based strategies to successfully reduce weight bias in medical students are lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a multifaceted intervention on medical students’ attitudes towards patients with obesity. Methods Third- and fourth-year medical students (n= 79), who enrolled in an eight-week graduate course focusing on the various epidemiologic, physiological and clinical aspects of obesity, including a gamification task with bariatric weight suits (BWS), were asked to complete the Nutrition, Exercise and Weight Management (NEW) Attitudes Scale questionnaire pre- and post-course. The inclusion period was between 09/2018 and 06/2021 and covered 4 consecutive groups of students. Results The overall NEW Attitude Scale scores did not change significantly pre- versus post-intervention (pre-course: 19.59, post-course 24.21, p-value = 0.24). However, the subgroup of 4th year medical students showed a significant improvement of their attitudes (pre-course: 16.4, post-course 26.16, p-value = 0.02). The Thurstone rating of 9 out of 31 individual survey items changed significantly from pre- to post-course with a moderate strength (Cramer’s V > 0.2), including 5 items showing weight bias reduction. The disagreement with the statement “Overweight/obese individuals lack willpower” increased from 37 to 68%. Discussion/Conclusion These findings suggest that in medical students with a low level of weight bias at baseline, a semester course on obesity combined with BWS use affects only a limited number of items of the NEW Attitudes scale questionnaire. The sensitization of medical students to weight stigma has the potential to improve quality of healthcare for patients with obesity.