1. Examining weight bias attitudes and obesity beliefs among undergraduate students.
- Author
-
Allnutt, Amy E., Smith, Daniel J., Torrence, William A., and Alexander, Dayna S.
- Subjects
- *
CROSS-sectional method , *PREJUDICES , *HEALTH attitudes , *MEDICAL education , *BODY weight , *UNDERGRADUATES , *UNIVERSITIES & colleges , *SEX distribution , *STATISTICAL sampling , *PRIVATE sector , *AGE distribution , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *MEDICAL students , *RACE , *ATTITUDES toward obesity , *CURRICULUM planning , *OBESITY , *NURSING students - Abstract
Objective: This cross-sectional study examined the weight bias attitudes and obesity beliefs of health science (HS), nursing, and pre-medicine undergraduate students. Methods: Using snowballing and convenience sampling strategies, students (N = 139) completed an online survey, including a 24-item Antifat Attitudes Scale (AFAS) and eight-item Belief About Obese Persons (BAOP) scale. Results: HS students have higher weight bias than nursing and pre-medicine students combined (M = 43.45, SD = 10.75), t(137) = −2.45, p =.016). A negative correlation exists between AFAS and BAOP suggesting high weight bias influences a belief that obesity is controllable. Gender positively predicted weight bias attitudes (ß = −11.43, t = −4.33, p <.001) and obesity beliefs (ß = 3.75, t = 3.01, p =. 003). Conclusions: Findings confirm that HS students have weight bias attitudes. This supports undergraduate curricular changes on obesity etiology that may improve treatment plans of individuals who are obese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF