ArticlePloS one2012
Medical students' attitudes towards overweight and obesity.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of active video games on physical activity among overweight and obese college students: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- A randomised controlled trial of a lived experience and education-based weight bias intervention for Australian healthcare students.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Trial
- The Effect of an Education Module to Reduce Weight Bias among Medical Centers Employees: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Obesity facts · 2022Trial
- Video Teaching Leads to Improved Attitudes Towards Obesity-a Randomized Study with 949 Participants.Obesity surgery · 2019Trial
- Attitudes, stigma and knowledge on obesity in Mexico: a national cross-sectional survey of the general population and healthcare professionals living with or without obesity.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Obesity simulation suits in health professions education: a scoping review.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Nutritional status and attitudes toward overweight and obesity among health-science students in Vietnam.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Attitudes and beliefs of healthcare workers towards obese persons in occupied Palestinian territories: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of a hybrid, obesity-specific counselling programme in improving medical students' self-efficacy and motivational interviewing skills for paediatric obesity counselling.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Impact of bariatric and metabolic surgery education program on the knowledge and attitude of medical students.Turkish journal of surgery · 2023Article
- The Effect of a Multifaceted Intervention Including Classroom Education and Bariatric Weight Suit Use on Medical Students' Attitudes toward Patients with Obesity.Obesity facts · 2023Article
- Empathy as a Factor Conditioning Attitudes towards the Elderly among Physiotherapists-Results from Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Perception of obesity and overweight among adults living in suburban Nepal: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Influence of Body Mass Index and Gender on Stigmatization of Obesity.Obesity surgery · 2020Article
- Attitudes and treatment practice of general practitioners towards patients with obesity in primary care.BMC family practice · 2020Article
- Living with obesity - existential experiences.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2019Article
- Associations between medical students' beliefs about obesity and clinical counseling proficiency.BMC obesity · 2019Article
- Obesity Education in Medical School Curricula in Korea.Journal of obesity & metabolic syndrome · 2018Review
- Obese patients and radiography literature: what do we know about a big issue?Journal of medical radiation sciences · 2015Review
- Obesity stigma as a determinant of poor birth outcomes in women with high BMI: a conceptual framework.Maternal and child health journal · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveStudies from the USA have identified medical students as a major source of stigmatizing attitudes towards overweight and obese individuals. As data from Europe is scarce, medical students' attitudes were investigated at the University of Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany.
designCross-sectional survey containing an experimental manipulation consisting of a pair of vignettes depicting an obese and a normal weight 42-year-old woman, respectively. Vignettes were followed by the Fat Phobia Scale (FPS), a semantic differential assessing weight related attitudes. In case of the overweight vignette a panel of questions on causal attribution for the overweight preceded administration of the FPS. SUBJECTS: 671 medical students were enrolled at the University of Leipzig from May to June 2011.
resultsThe overweight vignette was rated significantly more negative than the normal weight vignette (mean FPS score 3.65±0.45 versus 2.54±0.38, p<0.001). A higher proportion of students had negative attitudes towards the overweight as compared to the normal weight individual (98.9% versus 53.7%, p<0.001). A "positive energy balance" was perceived as the most relevant cause for the overweight, followed by "negligent personality trait", "societal and social environment" and "biomedical causes". Attributing a "positive energy balance" or "negligent personality trait" as relevant cause for the overweight was positively associated with negative attitudes.
conclusionThe results of this study confirm and complement findings from other countries, mainly the USA, and indicate that weight bias in the health care setting may be a global issue. Stigmatizing attitudes towards overweight and obesity are prevalent among a sample of medical students at the University of Leipzig. Negative attitudes arise on the basis of holding the individual accountable for the excess weight. They call for bringing the topic of overweight and obesity more into the focus of the medical curriculum and for enhancing medical students' awareness of the complex aetiology of this health condition.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.