The Impact of Occupational Education on Obesity Prejudice of University Students
Main Article Content
Keywords
Obesity prejudice; University Student; Weight stigma; Healthcare providers
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the obesity related prejudices and negative attitudes of university students who study in health and non-health fields.
Subjective and Methods: This is a descriptive study conducted to determine the obesity prejudice levels of students studying in health and social fields. A total of 732 students (577 females, 155 males) of different faculties of a university participated in the study voluntarily. The Prejudice was measured with Obesity Prejudice Scale (OPS). Analysis of Variance and Covariance were used to investigate relationships between of OPS scores and factors.
Results: A total of 732 students, 577 (78.8%) females and 155 (21.2%) males, participated in this study, which was conducted to determine obesity prejudices of university students. According to their mean OPS scores, 18.4% of the students were found to be unprejudiced, 55.1% prone to be prejudiced, and 26.5% prejudiced. The intragroup comparisons of mean OPS scores of health and social field students indicated that the differences between the prejudiced and the unprejudiced were statistically highly significant (p<0.0001).
Conclusions: In order to prevent the development of internalized obesity prejudices emerging as a result of prejudices against obese individuals in the society and their stigmatization, this problem must be solved at an early age, especially during university education. It is necessary that state policies should be established to monitor the attitudes of individuals towards obesity, people should be educated and supervised on this subject, and that further research representing the society on this topic should be conducted.
References
(http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_health_statistics/2015/en/
2. Ercan A, Akçil Ok M, Kızıltan G, Altun S. Development of Obesity Prejudice Scale for Students of Health Sciences: GAMS 27- Obesity Prejudice Scale. International Peer-Reviewed Journal of Nutrition Research. 2015; 3:29-43. .
3. Yılmaz CY, Dinç ZF. Comparing Fat phobic Attitudes of Male and Female Studying at School of Physical Education and Sport. Spormetre. The Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences. 2010;8:29-34.
4. Gordon H.L, Walker LS, Gur S, Olien JL. Obesity and gender as status beliefs. Soc. Sci. Res. 2018;71:11-18.
5. Schwartz MB, Chambliss HO, Brownell KD. Weight bias among health professionals specializing in obesity. Obes. Res. 2003;11:1033-1039.
6. Lewis S, Thomas SL, Blood RW. How do obese individuals perceive and respond to the different types of obesity stigma that they encounter in their daily lives? A qualitative study. SOC SCI MED. 2011;73:1349-56.
7. Ruffman T, O'Brien KS, Taumoepeau M, Latner JD, Hunter JA. Toddlers’ bias to look at average versus obese figures relates to maternal anti-fat prejudice. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 2016;142:195–202.
8. Levine EE, Schweitzer ME. The affective and interpersonal consequences of obesity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 2015;127:66–84.
9. Elran-Barak R, Bar-Anan Y. Implicit and explicit anti-fat bias: The role of weight-related attitudes and beliefs. SOC SCI MED. 2018;204:117-24.
10. Welborn SE. Comparison of obesity bias, attitudes, and beliefs among under graduate dietetic students, dietetic interns, and practicing registered dietitians. A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Allied Health Sciences East Tennessee State University.2013. Accessed June 2019.
https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2261&context=etd
11. Randall JG, Zimmer CU, O’Brien KR, Trump-Steele RCE, Villado AJ, Hebl MR. Weight discrimination in helping behavior. EUR REV APPL PSYCHOL. 2017;67:125–37.
12. Shanka LM, Schvey NA, Ekundayo K, Schreiber-Gregorybc D, Batesd D, Maurerd D, Spiekerd E, Stephense M, Tanofsky-Kraffa M, Sbrocco T. The relationship between weight stigma, weight bias internalization, and physical health in military personnel with or at high-risk of overweight/obesity. Body Image. 2019;28:25-33.
13. Daníelsdóttir S, O’Brien KS, Ciao A. Anti-fat prejudice reduction: a review of published studies. Obes. Facts. 2010;3:47-58.
14. De Caroli ME, Elisabetta Sagone E. Anti-fat prejudice and stereotypes in psychology university students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2013;84:1184-89.
15. Tomiyama AJ, Finch LE, Belsky AC, Buss J, Finley C, Schwartz M.B, Daubenmier J. Weight bias in 2001 versus 2013: contradictory attitudes among obesity researchers and health professionals. Obesity. 2015;23:46-53.
16. Robinson EL, Ball LE, Leveritt MD. Obesity bias among health and non-health students attending an Australian university and their perceived obesity education. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2014;46:390-5.
17. Saxena I, Kumar M. Obesity discrimination in healthcare. Eur J Case Rep Intern Med. 2017;46:29-30.
18. Li W, Rukavina P. A review on coping mechanisms against obesity bias in physical activity/education settings. Obes Rev. 2009;10:87-95.
19. Li W, Rukavina P. Implicit and Explicit Obesity Bias in Pre-adolescents and their Relations to Self-reported Body Mass Index. Stigma Res Action. 2011;1:18-26.
20. Zuba A, Warschburger P. Weight bias internalization across weight categories among school-aged children. Validation of the Weight Bias Internalization Scale for Children. Body Image. 2018;25:56–65.
21. Forhan M, Salas XR. Inequities in healthcare: a review of bias and discrimination in obesity treatment. Can. J. Diabetes. 2013;37:205–209.
22. Hansson LM, Naslund E, Rasmussen F. Perceived discrimination among men and women with normal weight and obesity. A Population-Based Study From Sweden. Scand J Public Health. 2010;38:587-96.
23. Miyairi M, Reel JJ. Combating weight bias among adolescents in school settings: a sport and exercise psychology perspective. JOPERD. 2011;81: 50-53.
24. Puhl RM, King KM. Weight discrimination and bullying. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013;27:117-27.
25. Brewis AA. Stigma and the perpetuation of obesity. SOC SCI MED. 2014;118:152-58.
26. Puhl RM, Luedicke J, Grilo CM. Obesity bias in training: attitudes, beliefs, and observations among advanced trainees in professional health disciplines. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014;22:1008- 15.
27. Sutin A, Robinson E, Daly M, Terracciano A. Weight discrimination and unhealthy eating-related behaviors. Appetite. 2016;1:83-89.
28. Luck-Sikorski C, Schomerus G, Jochum T, Riedel-Heller SG. Layered stigma? Co-occurring depression and obesity in the public eye. J Psychosom Res. 2018;106:29-33.
29. Fruh SM, Nadglowski J, Hall HR, Davis SL, Crook ED, Zlomk, K. Obesity Stigma and Bias. J Nurse Pract. 2016;12:425-32.
30. Phillips CM. Metabolically Healthy Obesity: Personalised and Public Health Implications. Trends Endocrinol. Metab. 2016;27:189-191.
31. Joslyn M, Haider-Markel DP.) Perceived causes of obesity, emotions, and attitudes about Discrimination Policy. SOC SCI MED. 2019;223: 97-103.
32. Phelan SM, Dovidio JF, Puhl RM, Burges DJ, Nelson DB, Yeazel MW, Hardeman R, Perry S, van Ryn M. Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obes Rev. 2015;16:319-26.
33. Alberga AS, Russell-Mayhew S, von Ranson KM, McLaren L. Weight bias: a call to action. J. Eat. Disord. 2016;4:34.
34. Puhl R, Wharton C, Heuer C. Weight Bias among Dietetics Students: Implications for Treatment Practices. J Am Diet Assoc 2009;109:, 438-44.
35. Darling R. Atav AS. Attitudes Toward Obese People: A Comparative Study of Nursing,
Education, and Social Work Students. Journal of Professional Nursing. 2019;35:138-146.
36. Pearl R L. Weight bias and stigma: Public health implications and structural solutions. Soc Issues Policy Rev. 2018; 12:146-182.
37. World Health OrganizationWeight bias and obesity stigma: considerations for the WHO European Region. World Health Organization 2017. accessed June (2019) http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/351026/WeightBias.pdf?ua=1,%20Son%20Eri%C5%9Fim%20Tarihi:%2001.06.2018
38. Buxton BK. Snethen J. Obese women's perceptions and experiences of healthcare and primary care providers: a phenomenological study. Nurs. Res. 2013; 62:252-59.
39. Sabin JA, Marini M, Nosek BA. Implicit and Explicit Anti-Fat Bias among a Large Sample of Medical Doctors by BMI, Race/Ethnicity and Gender. PLoS One. 2012;7:48448. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0048448 (accessed June 2019)
40. Setchell J, Watson B, Jones L, Gard M, Briffa K. Physiotherapists demonstrate weight stigma: A cross-sectional survey of Australian physiotherapists. J Physiother. 2014; 60:157-62.
41. Berryman DE, Dubale GM, Manchester, DS, Mittelstaedt R. Dietetics students possess negative attitudes toward obesity similar to nondietetics students. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006; 106:1678-82.
42. Miller DP Jr, Spangler JG, Vitolins MZ, Davis SW, Ip EH, Marion GS, Crandall SJ. Are medical students aware of their anti-obesity bias? Acad Med. 2013; 88:978-982.
43. McArthur LH, Ross JK. Attitudes of registered dietitians toward personal overweight and overweight clients. J Am Diet Assoc. 1997; 97:63-66.
44. Puhl RM, Brownell KD. Bias, discrimination, and obesity. Obes. Res. 2001; 9:788-805.
45. Poustchi Y, Saks NS, Piasecki AK, Hahn KA, Ferrante JM. Brief intervention effective in reducing weight bias in medical students. Fam Med. 2013; 45:345-8.
46. Canpolat BI, Orsel S, Akdemir A, Ozbay H. () Comparison of Body-Image Self Perception and BMI of Dieting Adolescents with Those of Non-Dieters. Turkish Journal of Psychiatry. 2004; 15:5-15.
47. Sezgin D. Health and Medicalization in Gender Perspective. Journal of Sociological Research. 2015; 18:153-186.
48. O'Brien KS, Daníelsdóttir S, Ólafsson RP, Hansdóttir I, Fridjónsdóttir TG, Jónsdóttir H. The relationship between physical appearance concerns, disgust, and anti-fat prejudice. Body Image. 2013; 10:619-23.
49. Aktaş A, Atabek-Aştı T, Bakanoğlu E, Çelebioğlu M. Determining the Body Image Perception of Students in a School of Nursing İstanbul University FNJN 2010;18:63-71.
50. Pearl RL, Puhl RM. Measuring internalized weight attitudes across body weight categories: validation of the modified weight bias internalization scale. Body Image. 2014; 11: 89-92.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
How to Cite
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
