Table 3.
Participants’ attitudes towards caring for patients with obesity
| Questionnaire items | Median a | Strongly/ moderately disagree | Both agree and disagree | Moderately/ strongly agree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I often feel frustrated with patients who have obesity | 2.5 | 50% | 40% | 10% |
| Patients with obesity can be difficult to deal with | 4 | 12% | 31% | 57% |
| I dislike treating patients with obesity | 1 | 93% | 4% | 3% |
| I see no difference between patients with obesity and normal weight patients | 3 | 34% | 31% | 35% |
| I feel confident that I provide quality care to patients with obesity | 4 | 2% | 22% | 76% |
| I feel professionally prepared to effectively treat patients with obesity | 3 | 19% | 33% | 48% |
| I would rather treat a non-obese patient than a patient with obesity | 2 | 66% | 19% | 16% |
| I have heard other professionals in my field making jokes or negative comments about patients with obesity. | 2 | 63% | 15% | 22% |
| My colleagues tend to have negative attitudes towards patients with obesity. | 2 | 68% | 20% | 12% |
a5-choice Likert scale. Min = 1, max = 5, n = 242