Anti-Fat Bias is Even Prevalent Among Med Students

A recent study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, has shown that apparently (and perhaps ironically), two medical students out of every five have an implicit anti-fat bias against people with obesity. In this study, at least 300 med school students in their third years, took a survey online, widely known as the Weight Implicit Association Test, to measure the amount of bias they had against obese people. The study revealed that 39%, over one-third of the medical student population in the study, had a bias towards obese people. Past research has shown that doctors with this anti-fat bias believe that obese people are unlikely to commit to treatment plans and therefore treat obese patients with less respect than other patients. The results from this study indicate that this unconscious anti-fat stigma is an important issue that should be addressed, especially for those on the route of becoming future doctors.