Abstract
Objective: Physician knowledge of the complex contributors to obesity varies. We do not know whether today's medical students are graduating with deep understanding of the causes of obesity. Our objective was to assess beliefs about causes of obesity in a national sample of 4th year medical students. Method: We randomly selected 2000 4th year students from a random sample of 50 U.S. medical schools and asked them to rate the importance of several factors as causes of obesity. Of those invited, 1244 (62%) responded. We conducted latent class analysis to identify groups with similar response patterns. Results: Most students demonstrated knowledge that obesity has multiple contributors. Students fell into 1 of 4 classes: (1) more likely to endorse all contributors (28%), (2) more likely to endorse physiological contributors (27%), (3) more likely to endorse behavioral or social contributors (24%), and (4) unlikely to endorse contributors outside of overeating and physical activity (22%). Conclusion: Though students were generally aware of multiple causes, there were 4 distinct patterns of beliefs, with implications for patient care. Practice implications: Targeted interventions may help to improve depth of knowledge about the causes of obesity and lead to more effective care for obese patients.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1446-1449 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Patient Education and Counseling |
Volume | 98 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Dr. Phelan is supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K01DK095924. Ms. Przedworski was additionally supported by the National Cancer Institute Cancer Education and Career Development Program under award number 5R25CA163184. Other support for this research is provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award R01HL085631. The funders had no role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of this report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
Keywords
- Diet
- Learning
- Medical students
- Obesity
- Weight bias
- Weight gain