Pharmacy student self-perception of weight and relationship to counseling patients on lifestyle modification

To assess the accuracy of pharmacy students' self-assessment of body mass index (BMI) and determine the relationship of this to comfort level in counseling patients regarding lifestyle modification.

A prospective, observational, cohort study was conducted that included first-, second-, and third-year pharmacy students who had previously undergone training in BMI self-assessment. Data on students' weight and height were collected and a survey that contained questions on self-perception of body weight and comfort with lifestyle counseling was conducted. Perceived BMI categories (underweight, normal, overweight, and obese) were then compared to actual calculated BMI to determine the accuracy of the student's self-perception.

At baseline, participants' accuracy in self-assessment of BMI was 74%, 73.3%, and 75.6% respectively, for first-, second-, and third-year students (p=0.911). Students accuracy increased but not significantly as they progressed through the curriculum (7.2% and 13.3%, respectively; p=0.470 and p=0.209). Neither accuracy in self-assessment of BMI nor students' actual BMI significantly affected students' comfort level with lifestyle modification counseling within healthy weight, overweight, or obese patient categories. However, as the patients' BMI category increased, comfort level differences were observed among students of normal and overweight categories.

Patients' BMI category may be a significant barrier to pharmacy students' comfort level in providing lifestyle modification counseling. This finding suggests the need to implement curriculum changes to better prepare students for lifestyle modification counseling.