Table 1.

Physician and Student Attitudes Toward Obesity and Its Management^a

No.	Item	Physicians (From Foster et al11)	All (BA+CO) Students
			Pre-Third Year		Post-Third Year
		Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	pb	Mean (SD)	pc
1	I believe it is necessary to educate obese patients on the health risks of obesity	4.5 (0.6)	4.9 (0.3)	<.001	4.7 (0.5)	.179
2	Obesity if a chronic disease	4.5 (0.9)	4.0 (1.0)	0.98	4.5 (0.5)	.799
3	Obesity is associated with serious medical conditions	4.4 (0.8)	4.9 (0.3)	<.001	4.9 (0.3)	<.001
4	Physicians should be role models by maintaining a normal weight	4.1 (0.8)	4.0 (0.7)	.624	3.9 (0.9)	.477
5	A 10% reduction in body weight is sufficient to significantly improve obesity- related health complications	3.8 (0.9)	3.8 (0.7)	.883	4.1 (0.8)	.218
6	Most obese patients are well aware of the health risks of obesity	3.2 (1.0)	3.1 (1.2)	.717	2.8 (1.1)	.259
7	Medications to treat obesity should be limited to short-term (<3 months) use	3.2 (1.2)	2.8 (1.0)	.155	3.1 (1.3)	.732
8	Most obese patients could reach a normal weight (for height) if they were motivated	3.1 (1.1)	2.4 (1.0)	.020	2.4 (0.8)	.006
9	Most obese patients will not lose a significant amount of weight	3.1 (1.0)	3.5 (1.1)	.273	3.8 (0.6)	.002
10	I have negative reactions toward the appearance of obese patients	3.0 (1.1)	3.1 (1.1)	.810	3.0 (1.0)	1.000
11	If a patient meets the appropriate criteria for obesity surgery, I would recommend an evaluation by a surgeon	2.7 (1.1)	3.8 (1.1)	.004	4.1 (0.9)	<.001
12	Medications to treat obesity should be used chronically	2.6 (1.2)	2.6 (1.0)	.956	2.6 (0.8)	.945
13	For most obese patients, long-term maintenance of weight loss is impossible	2.5 (1.1)	2.7 (0.9)	.484	2.7 (0.9)	.440
14	It is acceptable to use “scare tactics” to obtain compliance of the obese patient	2.3 (1.0)	2.8 (1.1)	.150	2.6 (1.2)	.362
15	I feel uncomfortable when examining an obese patient	2.1 (1.0)	2.5 (1.0)	.206	2.5 (1.1)	.273
16	It is difficult for me to feel empathy for an obese patient	2.0 (0.9)	2.5 (1.0)	.069	20. (1.0)	1.000

Abbreviations: BA, students enrolled in the bariatric surgery longitudinal patient pilot program; CO, controls.

^aPoints: 1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = neutral; 4 = agree; 5 = strongly agree.

^bp value reported is result of 2-tailed t test comparing physician response with student baseline responses.

^cp value reported is result of 2-tailed t test comparing physician responses with student responses after third year.