Changing Internal Medical Residents’ Attitudes Towards Managing People With Obesity Using an Interactive Educational Session With Embedded Real-Life Patients’ Experiences

Author Information

Ellina Lytvyak, University of Alberta, Canada
Nikita Mittal, University of California San Diego, United States
Jennie Wei, University of California San Diego, United States
Tuo Lin, University of California San Diego, United States
Kun Yang, University of California San Diego, United States
Xin M Tu, University of California San Diego, United States
Ottar Lunde, University of California San Diego, United States
Evelyn Ross, University of California San Diego, United States
Jessica Cheng, University of California San Diego, United States
Jennifer DeConde, University of California San Diego, United States
Neil Farber, University of California San Diego, United States
Eduardo Grunvald, University of California San Diego, United States

Abstract

Weight bias and discrimination towards individuals living with obesity among healthcare providers are associated with inferior patient care and worse outcomes. Our aim was to assess and measure the effect of an innovative educational session on attitudes towards perceived causes of obesity and treating individuals with obesity among internal medicine residents. This pre-post-intervention study was conducted among 30 internal medicine residents at the University of California San Diego. The session included a didactic lecture on obesity embedded with shared real-life patient experiences. Validated surveys were offered pre- and post-session: Perceived Causes of Obesity and Attitudes about Treating Patients with Obesity. A generalized estimating equations time-based model was used. The median age of participants was 29 years old, 53.3% females, and 56.7% were Caucasians. The effect of the session was significant in the physiological causes domain (from 3.59 ± 0.75 to 3.97 ± 0.80; p = 0.002), suggesting a greater belief in that obesity is caused by physiological characteristics. Our educational session also resulted in a statistically significant improvement in negative attitudes about treating people with obesity (from 2.43 ± 0.60 to 2.28 ± 0.54; p = 0.015). Our study demonstrated the significant positive impact of combining a traditional didactic lecture approach with embedded real-life patient experiences on a better understanding of factors contributing to obesity and improving attitudes towards managing people with obesity. It opens avenues for improving curricula to reduce anti-obesity stigma. Our findings merit further research on optimal strategy, context, duration, and evaluation of educational interventions that effectively and efficiently reduce weight bias among our future healthcare workforce.

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• Category: Higher Education

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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