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Physicians Not Immune From Anti-Fat Bias
STUDY:
JOURNAL: Obes Res. 2003;11:1033-1039
AUTHORS:
ABSTRACT: Health professionals specializing in obesity tend to be biased against overweight individuals, according to the results of a study published in the September issue of Obesity Research. Although the level of bias is lower than in the general community, it is striking in a group trained in the genetic and environmental basis of obesity.
COMMENTARY: In this study, 389 health professionals attending an international obesity conference in Quebec City completed the Implicit Associations Test and a self-administered questionnaire measuring explicit attitudes, personal experiences with obesity, and demographic characteristics.
These clinicians and researchers associated the stereotypes lazy, stupid, and worthless with obese people.
Bias was less in older individuals, in men, in those working directly with obese patients, in those who felt they understood the experience of obesity, and in those who had obese friends.
Bottom line is to fnd docs that care.
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