Biokineticist and physiotherapist attitudes in Gauteng towards overweight and obese individuals

Abstract

Introduction. Obesity levels have doubled since the 1980s and health professionals have been documented to show weight bias and stigma towards these overweight individuals. Research in South Africa on weight bias has not as yet been conducted. This study aimed to examine bias and prejudice toward overweight and obese individuals in Biokineticists and Physiotherapists Methods. The Fat Phobia Scale (FPS) and The Attitudes Towards Obese Persons (ATOP) questionnaire were used to access bias and prejudice attitudes in the sample of Biokineticists and Physiotherapists. The FPS is a 14-item scale consisting of a five-point semantic differential scale. The ATOP is a 20 point questionnaire that requires a rating of a statement from -3 to +3. Results. A total of 223 Biokineticists and Physiotherapists in the study. Biokineticists were significantly more bias towards overweight and obese patients on both the FPS (p=0.04) and ATOP (p<0.01). Females were also shown to be more prejudice than men (p=0.01), and there was an inverse relationship between the BMI of the healthcare worker, and the fat phobia scale (p=0.02). Lastly, the amount of overweight/obese patients (p=0.56), the age of the healthcare professional (p=0.74) and years of practice did not appear to affect bias and prejudice in this study (p=0.13). Conclusion. These results provide a platform for future research into bias and prejudice for South African health professionals. Future research should include implicit bias and prejudice measures as this study only looked at explicit bias and prejudice.