ECEESPE2025 ePoster Presentations Metabolism, Nutrition and Obesity (164 abstracts)
Evaluation of attitudes and beliefs of medical faculty students towards patients with obesity across turkey: a cross-sectional study
Seçil Özışık 1 , Sibel Sakarya 1 , İlker Kayı 1 , Volkan Yumuk 2 , İbrahim Şahin 3 , Bahri Evren 3 , Serhat Uysal 2 , Ayşegül Atmaca 4 , Zafer Pekkolay 5 , Fahri Bayram 6 , Taner Bayraktaroğlu 7 , Ömercan Topaloğlu 7 , Sakin Tekin 7 , Alev Atınova 8 , Hülyanur Sodan 8 , Ayşe Kubat Üzüm 9 , Oğuz Dikbaş 10 , Emre Saygılı 11 , Ersen Karakılıç 11 , Alper Sönmez 12 , Sinem Kıyıcı 13 , Dilek Gogas 14 , Ceyda Dinçer 14 , Seda Sancak 15 , İbrahim Demirci 16 , Mustafa Cesur 17 , Cem Haymana 16 , Yavuz Keskin 1 , Selçuk Dağdelen 18 , Oğuzhan Deyneli 1 , Ximena Ramos Salas 19 & Dilek Yazıcı 1
1Koç University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Türkiye; 2Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, İstanbul, Türkiye; 3İnonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Türkiye; 419 Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Türkiye; 5Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Diyarbakır, Türkiye; 6Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine, Kayseri, Türkiye; 7Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Türkiye; 8Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Türkiye; 9Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Türkiye; 10Giresun University School of Medicine, Giresun, Türkiye; 11Çanakkale 18 Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale, Türkiye; 12Ankara Yüksek İhtisas University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Türkiye; 13Health Sciences University Bursa Yİ Education and Research Hospital, Bursa, Türkiye; 14Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Türkiye; 15Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Türkiye; 16Gulhane Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Türkiye; 17Ankara Guven University Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye; 18Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Türkiye; 19Obesity Canada, Edmonton, Canada
JOINT3677
Introduction: Weight bias is common in health care settings, where negative attitudes about overweight patients have been reported by physicians, nurses, and medical students [1-3]. Weight biases present among health professional students are significantly influence students’ treatment decisions and beliefs about obesity [4]. In this study, we examined weight bias among medical students in preclinical (1st-2nd-3rd year) and clinical (4th-5th-6th-year) classes, as well as their observations of weight bias among instructors and peers. We then compared the findings across these groups.
Methods: This study utilized a cross-sectional design. A non-randomized sampling was used. Through an online survey, data was conducted among medical students, between January 2023 and July 2023. Three questionnaires previously developed by Puhl et al. were utilized [4]. Additionally, the Attitude Towards Obese Persons (ATOP) and Beliefs About Obese Persons (BAOP) scales were used. The scales used in Turkish were previously validated in earlier studies (5).
Results: The survey questions were completed by 1,358 students. Among the participants, 60.4% were female. Of the students who completed the survey, 45.7% (n = 620) were from preclinical classes. More than half of the students reported hearing jokes from fellow students about people with obesity. Also clinical students (26.9%) were more than twice as likely as preclinical students (13.2%) to report hearing negative comments or jokes from professors or instructors about people with obesity. ATOP and BAOP scores did not show a statistically significant difference between the preclinical and clinical groups.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that weight stigma is progressively reinforced throughout medical education. Addressing this issue requires systematic educational interventions, including anti-stigma training, curriculum modifications.
Keywords: Weight bias, stigma, medical students
References: 1. Maroney D, Golub S. Nurses’ attitudes toward obese persons and certain ethnic groups. Percept Motor Skill 1992; 75: 387–391. 2. Price JH, Desmond SM, Krol RA, Snyder FF, O’Connell JK. Family practice physicians’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding obesity. Am J Prev Med 1987; 3: 339–345. 3. Wiese HJ, Wilson JF, Jones RA, Neises M. Obesity stigma reduction in medical students. Int J Obesity 1992; 16: 859–868. 4. Puhl RM, Luedicke J, Grilo CM. Obesity bias in training: attitudes, beliefs, and observations among advanced trainees in professional health disciplines. Obesity. 2014;22(4):1008–1015. 5. Dedeli Ö, Aybarç-Bursalıoğlu S, Deveci A. Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the attitudes toward obese Person’s scale and the beliefs about obese persons scale. Clin Nurs Stud. 2014; 2(4): 105-117.
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