Atitudes de enfermeiros de equipe da Saúde da Família em relação à obesidade

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a multifactorial, chronic disease and a major public health problem. There are many stigmas and stereotypes used in this pathology and obese patients are often considered lazy, incompetent and responsible for their weight gain. Health professionals are reported by patients as one of the main sources of application of this stigma. Objective: To evaluate nurses' attitudes towards obese individuals. Method: All nurses from the 66 Family Health teams in Blumenau - SC were invited to participate in the research. Data collection included the application of the Antifat Attitude Test with 34 questions, in addition to a structured interview questionnaire prepared by the authors and self-completed with sociodemographic and health data, with 14 questions, including weight and height reported by the participants for calculation of the Body Mass Index. Results: 42 nurses participated, with a predominance of females, prevalent nutritional status of overweight and most reported a history of overweight or obesity. In the Antifat Attitude Test, the highest average was from the subscale ‘Weight Control/Blame’ associated with the statement 'most fat people buy too much junk food' with the fact that the participants consider themselves to be overweight (p <0.05). Conclusion: The results suggest that professionals have some anti-obesity attitudes towards obesity.

Keywords

• obesidade. estigma social. preconceito. enfermeiras e enfermeiros.