TY - JOUR
T1 - A multifaceted training tool to reduce weight bias among healthcare students
T2 - A randomized controlled trial
AU - Sherf-Dagan, Shiri
AU - Ofri, Lani
AU - Tayar, Inbar
AU - Keisar, Ido
AU - Buch, Assaf
AU - Paska-Davis, Naama
AU - Pinus, Michael
AU - Tesler, Riki
AU - Elran-Barak, Roni
AU - Boaz, Mona
AU - Green, Gizell
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity
PY - 2024/1/1
Y1 - 2024/1/1
N2 - Background: Weight bias toward people with obesity (PwO) is common in healthcare settings. Efforts to address weight bias in healthcare settings should begin during university studies. This study aimed to explore the effect of a multifaceted intervention on weight bias among undergraduate healthcare students. Methods: An open label randomized controlled trial. The intervention tool consisted of short video lectures on obesity, vignettes simulating interactions between health professionals and PwO, and open discourse with a PwO. The control group received a short-written document on obesity. Online questionnaires on Anti-Fat Attitudes ('AFA'), short form of the Fat-Phobia Scale ('FPS'), Weight Implicit Association Test ('Weight-IAT'), and knowledge about obesity were administered at baseline, 1-week, and 6-week post-intervention. Results: A total of 162, 152, and 146 students participated in the study at baseline, 1-week, and 6-week post-intervention, respectively. Their mean age was 25.8 ± 6.7 years and 88.3% were women. Means of AFA total scores and FPS scores decreased significantly over time only within the intervention group (P Time*Group = 0.002 and 0.014). Both groups showed a similar trend over time in mean scores of Weight-IAT (P Time*Group = 0.868) and knowledge about obesity (P Time*Group = 0.115). Conclusions: A multifaceted intervention resulted in a significant reduction in explicit weight bias but did not yield any additional advantages over the control group in implicit weight bias and knowledge about obesity. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT05482802.
AB - Background: Weight bias toward people with obesity (PwO) is common in healthcare settings. Efforts to address weight bias in healthcare settings should begin during university studies. This study aimed to explore the effect of a multifaceted intervention on weight bias among undergraduate healthcare students. Methods: An open label randomized controlled trial. The intervention tool consisted of short video lectures on obesity, vignettes simulating interactions between health professionals and PwO, and open discourse with a PwO. The control group received a short-written document on obesity. Online questionnaires on Anti-Fat Attitudes ('AFA'), short form of the Fat-Phobia Scale ('FPS'), Weight Implicit Association Test ('Weight-IAT'), and knowledge about obesity were administered at baseline, 1-week, and 6-week post-intervention. Results: A total of 162, 152, and 146 students participated in the study at baseline, 1-week, and 6-week post-intervention, respectively. Their mean age was 25.8 ± 6.7 years and 88.3% were women. Means of AFA total scores and FPS scores decreased significantly over time only within the intervention group (P Time*Group = 0.002 and 0.014). Both groups showed a similar trend over time in mean scores of Weight-IAT (P Time*Group = 0.868) and knowledge about obesity (P Time*Group = 0.115). Conclusions: A multifaceted intervention resulted in a significant reduction in explicit weight bias but did not yield any additional advantages over the control group in implicit weight bias and knowledge about obesity. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT05482802.
KW - Healthcare students
KW - Obesity
KW - People with obesity
KW - Weight bias
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85182430598&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.orcp.2023.12.002
DO - 10.1016/j.orcp.2023.12.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 38184475
AN - SCOPUS:85182430598
SN - 1871-403X
VL - 18
SP - 35
EP - 42
JO - Obesity Research and Clinical Practice
JF - Obesity Research and Clinical Practice
IS - 1
ER -