Obesity bias awareness decreases nursing students' bias toward patients with obesity.

Abstract

To determine if obesity bias scores among nursing students changed after education was delivered and to what degree body mass index (BMI) was associated with a personal experience of bias during a student's healthcare history. A quantitative, quasi-experimental design was used to analyze sociodemographic information and Implicit Association Test scores of junior, senior, and full-time accelerated coursework track nursing students. Generally, obesity bias declined among the group. However, bias increased regarding increasing BMI. Obesity bias awareness and obesity education can decrease obesity bias among nursing students.