U.S. medical students personal health behaviors, attitudes and perceived skills towards weight management counseling

Preventive Medicine Reports

Lori Pbert¹  Kathleen M. Mazor²  Judith K. Ockene³  Sybil Crawford⁴  Jyothi A. Pendharkar⁴  Christine F. Frisard⁴  Rajani S. Sadasivam⁴  Alan C. Geller⁴  Jamie M. Faro⁴ 

[1] Corresponding author.;Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 677 Huntington Ave., Cambridge, MA, United States;Meyers Health Care Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 385 Grove St., Worcester, MA, United States;University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, 368 Plantation St., Worcester, MA, United States;

关键词: Medical students;    Exercise;    Weight management;    Attitudes;    Health behaviors;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Physicians’ abilities to address obesity in routine care may be affected by their own health behaviors, skills in and attitudes toward weight management counseling (WMC). Gender differences have been noted amongst these factors as well. We examined gender differences in personal health behaviors and predictors of perceived WMC skills and attitudes of medical students enrolled in a WMC trial. Enrollment took place in 2020 and consisted of students from eight U.S. medical schools. Baseline measures included demographics, exercise, and weight management behaviors, WMC attitudes and perceived skills. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and linear mixed models used to assess the effect of personal health behaviors on outcomes of WMC attitudes and perceived skills. Complete data were available for 1145 medical students. More males reported exercising 4 or more days/week (58.6% v. 41.4%), being more likely to monitor their weight (75.6% v. 70.3%) and less likely to intentionally attempt weight loss in the past (50.3% v. 65.3%) compared to females (all p’s < 0.05). Exercising 4 or more days per week was positively associated with perceived WMC skills in the adjusted model (β = 0.10, CI 0.06 to 0.14, p < 0.01). Exercise frequency was positively associated with perceived WMC skills, regardless of gender. WMC curriculum may consider focusing on personal health behaviors such as exercise to increase perceived WMC skills.

【 授权许可】

Unknown