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Medical and Nursing Student's Perceptions of Obesity

Abstract This purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to describe the perceptions of medical and nursing students towards obesity. This study utilized King's (1981, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997a, 1997b) ideas and nursing theory as a guide for achieving this purpose. The research was conducted with 28 medical and 102 nursing students attending three universities in Southern Ontario and one in Western New York. Students were given a survey containing six open‐ended questions. The research objectives were answered by analyzing the themes that originated from the student's responses to the survey questions. Although the study findings identified similarities and differences in perspectives between the two groups of students, the theme that appeared most prevalent throughout student's writings was feeeling repulsed at the appearance of someone whom they perceived to be overweight. Both groups of students also perceived obesity as unhealthy and assumed that individuals who were overweight were inactive, lazy, and lacked self control. Further, the study's findings indicated that the majority of both groups of students had received minimal instruction on the etiology and treatment of obesity. Findings further demonstrated that students had limited clinical experiences in caring for, and/or treating patients who are overweight or obese.