TY - JOUR
T1 - Weight management counseling experiences of first year medical students before starting medical school and their self-perceived impact on treating patients with obesity
AU - Pendharkar, Jyothi A.
AU - Frisard, Christine F.
AU - Geller, Alan C.
AU - Pbert, Lori
AU - Crawford, Sybil
AU - Guck, Thomas P.
AU - Stadler, Diane D.
AU - Ockene, Judith
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the significant contributions of the investigators, project directors, study coordinators, research assistants, and support staff at UMMS and the eight medical schools who contributed to the administration and completion of the baseline survey for the study.
Funding Information:
The MSWeight project was supported by NIH grant 5R01CA1947
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Physicians can play a vital role in counseling patients on overweight and obesity. This secondary analysis examined whether experiences in patient care specific to weight management before starting medical school were associated with students’ intentions and confidence to provide weight management counseling (WMC) to patients who have overweight or obesity, and perceived impact as future physicians on patients’ motivation to manage weight. First-year medical students (n = 1305) in the entering class of 2020 at eight medical schools nationwide completed questions relating to their prior experiences in patient care and WMC using the 5As. Also assessed were their intentions to treat patients with overweight or obesity, and confidence in counseling patients to help manage their weight. Over half the students (58.3%) who completed the survey had prior experience in patient care and nearly half (47.4%) began medical school with prior WMC experiences. Prior experiences correlated positively with higher confidence in performing WMC and students’ intentions to treat patients with overweight or obesity. Given the relatively high rates of exposure to some type of weight management or lifestyle counseling among students before enrolling in medical school, the curriculum could build on established student interest and experience by offering treatment strategies including counseling for patients with overweight and obesity. By making prior experiences advantageous for admission, medical schools could gravitate towards admitting students who have brief but valuable insights about weight management in health care, thus increasing the possibility of filling important gaps.
AB - Physicians can play a vital role in counseling patients on overweight and obesity. This secondary analysis examined whether experiences in patient care specific to weight management before starting medical school were associated with students’ intentions and confidence to provide weight management counseling (WMC) to patients who have overweight or obesity, and perceived impact as future physicians on patients’ motivation to manage weight. First-year medical students (n = 1305) in the entering class of 2020 at eight medical schools nationwide completed questions relating to their prior experiences in patient care and WMC using the 5As. Also assessed were their intentions to treat patients with overweight or obesity, and confidence in counseling patients to help manage their weight. Over half the students (58.3%) who completed the survey had prior experience in patient care and nearly half (47.4%) began medical school with prior WMC experiences. Prior experiences correlated positively with higher confidence in performing WMC and students’ intentions to treat patients with overweight or obesity. Given the relatively high rates of exposure to some type of weight management or lifestyle counseling among students before enrolling in medical school, the curriculum could build on established student interest and experience by offering treatment strategies including counseling for patients with overweight and obesity. By making prior experiences advantageous for admission, medical schools could gravitate towards admitting students who have brief but valuable insights about weight management in health care, thus increasing the possibility of filling important gaps.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101411
DO - 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101411
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107671000
VL - 23
JO - Preventive Medicine Reports
JF - Preventive Medicine Reports
SN - 2211-3355
M1 - 101411
ER -