Study: Many Health Professionals Associate Obesity With Laziness

The stigma of obesity is so strong that a significant number of knowledgable health care professionals blame obese people for their own plight, according to a study reported in the journal Obesity Research.

Lead researcher Marlene Schwartz of Yale University found that many obesity specialists -- from physicians and researchers to pharmacologists and psychologists -- believe people are obese because they are lazy, stupid and worthless.

Schwartz said the findings were particularly noteworthy since study participants consisted of professionals who treat and study obesity, a group that understands that obesity results from genetic and environmental factors and not simply from individual behavior.

However, the study also found that health professionals who work directly with obese patients showed less bias than those who work with them indirectly.

The researchers reached their conclusion about obesity bias after interviewing 389 health professionals who attended an international obesity conference in Quebec, Canada. The participants were questioned on attitudes about, and their personal experiences, with obesity

"Even professionals whose careers emphasize research or the clinical management of obesity show very strong weight bias, indicating pervasive and powerful stigma," concluded Schwartz and her colleagues. "Understanding the extent of anti-fat bias and the personal characteristics associated with it will aid in developing intervention strategies to ameliorate these damaging attitudes."
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Other sources: Yale Univeristy, Obesity Research11:1033-1039 (2003)