Prejudicial attitudes toward clients who are obese: measuring implicit attitudes of occupational therapy students

ABSTRACT Stigmatizing attitudes can undermine the quality of health care. This study examines the attitudes and beliefs of 189 occupational therapy students toward clients who are obese. Results indicate that the occupational therapy students were more likely to make negative evaluations of clients who were obese. The univariate between-subjects analysis of the Attitudes Toward Obesity-Prejudicial Evaluation and Social Interaction Scale scores found that the difference between the means for overweight and average-weight clients for Social Distance and Judgment were statistically significant (t(187) = 2.06, p = .04; t(187) = -2.008, p = .04). There was also a statistically significant difference between the Social Distance score means for female and male clients (t(187) = -2.12, p = .03). The explicit measures, the Attitudes Toward Obese Persons and the Beliefs About Obese Persons scores, showed that many students in the sample had stereotypical beliefs and, to a lesser extent, had negative attitudes about obesity. These results add support to the inclusion in occupational therapy curricula content that specifically addresses the awareness of stigmatizing stereotypes and attitudes toward clients who are obese.