Assessing Weight Stigma: Validating Attitudes and Beliefs Questionnaires Among Future Healthcare Professionals.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychometrics
• Public Health

Background:

• Weight stigma is a significant concern in healthcare settings.
• Existing tools for measuring attitudes towards obesity require validation in specific populations.
• Healthcare students' attitudes can influence patient care and contribute to weight stigma.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish the reliability and validity of the Anti-Fat Attitudes (AFA) questionnaire.
• To establish the reliability and validity of the Beliefs About Obese Persons (BAOP) scale.
• To evaluate these instruments for measuring weight stigma among healthcare students.

Main Methods:

• Observational study involving 257 students from medical, nutrition, and nursing programs.
• Exploratory factor analysis used for construct validity testing.
• Cronbach's alpha coefficient calculated for internal consistency of AFA and BAOP scales.

Main Results:

• The AFA questionnaire demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.862) with factors: Dislike, Fear of Fat, and Willpower.
• The BAOP scale showed adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.781) and a validated single-factor structure.
• Statistically significant differences in AFA and BAOP scores were found among different student groups (p = 0.02; p = 0.03).

Conclusions:

• The AFA questionnaire and BAOP scale are reliable and valid instruments for assessing weight stigma in healthcare students.
• These validated tools can effectively evaluate the impact of weight stigma awareness interventions.
• Findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to address weight stigma within healthcare education.