Efficacy of Methods for Addressing Antifat Bias in Medical Education

Antifat bias is common in US society, and research supports that it is seen frequently in the healthcare setting. In response, medical schools are including interventions to reduce antifat bias and improve patient care. To the authors' knowledge, there has been no study that focuses solely on educational interventions to address antifat bias aimed at medical students in the United States. This review examined the current state of research, exploring different methods of addressing antifat bias in US medical education to determine which methods were more effective. We did a literature search using PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase. Eight studies met the criteria for inclusion. Of the eight, one assessed current curriculum, one assessed lectures and case simulations, two were centered around engaging in art, two focused on watching video clips, one was a standardized patient encounter, and one used the elaboration likelihood model. All of the studies showed some decrease in bias in the short term in subjects, whether statistically significant or not. Bias was assessed long term in two studies, and consistent follow-up was identified as important for preserving the decrease in bias. We conclude that addressing antifat bias is sufficient to drive change in medical students, independent of method, at least in the short term. The limitations of the study included the short-term nature of the interventions, the small number of studies, and their differing methods of assessing bias. More research is necessary to evaluate the long-term effects of these interventions and other methods of assessing bias. We hope that this can increase the number of schools including education to challenge antifat bias.