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Dental Hygienists' Attitudes Toward the Obese Population.

Purpose: To explore dental hygienists' attitudes toward the obese population and to determine whether there are differences in attitudes among those with different self-reported body images.Methods: The study population was dental hygienists whose email addresses were in the database of the California Dental Hygienists' Association (CDHA). CDHA distributed the electronic message containing study information, informed consent, and a link to the survey. The survey consisted of 14 items from the Fat Phobia Scale, 13 items from the Anti-fat Attitudes Questionnaire (AFAQ), 3 demographic questions, and 1 question on body image. Frequencies of responses for each survey item were calculated, and Likert-like scale responses from the AFAQ were analyzed to determine significant differences among self-reported body images.Results: Of the 6,248 email addresses in the CDHA database, 518 hygienists or 8% responded. Mild fat phobia was indicated by 57% of the word pair scores on the Fat Phobia Scale being higher than 2.50. On the AFAQ, 84% agreed to the statement, "People who weigh too much could lose at least some part of their weight through a little exercise." Significantly (p<0.05) more respondents who self-reported as overweight than underweight agreed to "I feel disgusted with myself when I gain weight" and "I worry about becoming fat," while more in the overweight than underweight category significantly (p<0.05) disagreed with "Fat people make me somewhat uncomfortable."Conclusion: Dental hygienists exhibited mildly negative attitudes toward the obese population. Curricula specific to the role of the dental hygienist in addressing the health effects of obesity are recommended.