A randomised controlled trial of a lived experience and education-based weight bias intervention for Australian...

A three-arm parallel randomised controlled trial was conducted to examine the efficacy of two brief videos for reducing healthcare students' explicit weight bias and to identify the key messages retained from the videos.

One hundred and three university students from 15 healthcare disciplines at 14 Australian universities viewed one of three randomly assigned brief videos: (1) empathy-focused (Experience), (2) education-focused (Science), or (3) smoking-focused (Control). Participants completed explicit weight bias measures at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and 2-week follow-up. Generalised linear mixed models (complete case and per-protocol) assessed intervention efficacy. Content analysis was used to examine participants' three main take-home messages from the videos.

Per-protocol analysis showed improved clinical confidence in the Experience (vs. Control) Group (g = 0.79, p = 0.027) immediately post-intervention. Complete case analysis found immediate post-intervention improvements in the Science group for empathy (vs. Control, g = 0.74, p = 0.002; vs. Experience, g = 0.51, p = 0.039) and understanding of socioeconomic contributors to obesity (vs. Experience, g = 0.68, p = 0.005). Only the improved empathy for patients living with obesity in the Science (vs. Control, g = 0.49, p = 0.041) Group was sustained at follow-up. There were no significant differences immediately post-intervention or follow-up for the remaining outcomes. Content analysis revealed that students recognised the complexity of overweight and obesity, the existence and negative impact of weight bias within society and healthcare settings, and the need to use improved methods to reduce weight bias.

The two brief weight bias videos had limited efficacy in reducing Australian healthcare students' explicit weight bias on most outcome measures, but improved students' empathy for patients and understanding of the socioeconomic contributors to obesity. Considerable reductions in explicit weight bias may require integrating weight bias reduction strategies into university curricula, with repeated exposure.