Abstract
Obesity-related prejudice and discrimination may have a source in health professionals and students. The objective was to assess anti-fat attitudes among Brazilian nutrition undergraduates who reported demographic data, weight, height and responded the Antifat Attitudes Test (AFAT) and the Brazilian Silhouette Scales to assess body image satisfaction and perception. Total and subscales of AFAT scores were compared among categories using the Mann-Whitney U test. Associations of participants' characteristics with the AFAT were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Total AFAT score was positively associated with male sex (ß: .13; p < .001), age (ß: .06; p < .001), educational institution outside capital (ß: .03; p < .05), private institutions (ß: .08; p < .001); and negatively associated with income (ß: -.05; p = .006), participants who perceived themselves with increased BMI (ß: -.15; p < .001) and those at the third year of course (ß: -.05; p = .041). Subscales scores were positively associated with male sex and age; and negatively associated with those who perceived themselves heavier. They have anti-fat attitudes especially if they were man, older, from private institutions, are at the beginning of the course, and have lower household income - and less weight bias if they perceived with increased BMI.
Highlights
Considering that obesity is a major public health challenge, it is vital to deepen the understanding of socioemotional factors that make its control even more difficult
Nutrition undergraduates in São Paulo – Brazil have negative attitudes toward obesity and individuals affected by obesity, which can be understood as prejudice and stigma
For the Antifat Attitudes Test (AFAT) total score, men and older students exhibited more negative attitudes, and those who perceived themselves to be above the actual BMI, with higher household income, and studying in more advanced college years, exhibited fewer negative attitudes
Summary
Considering that obesity is a major public health challenge, it is vital to deepen the understanding of socioemotional factors that make its control even more difficult Some of these factors have their origin in society, but it is not clear how much health professionals themselves contribute to maintaining prejudice against individuals with obesity[1,2,3,4,5]. A study conducted in Brazilian nutrition undergraduates using hypothetical case studies found that the patient’s weight influenced the responses related to behaviors and prescriptions, biased to negative attitudes[26] Such behaviors toward individuals with obesity and prejudice have been called weight bias and stigma[27]
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