Too big to be seen: Weight-based discrimination among nursing students

An educational intervention was conducted to determine the efficacy of an obesity sensitivity program to determine nursing students' attitudes toward obese clients. As part of the clinical curriculum, nursing students (N = 103) received weekly obesity sensitivity education on weight-based discrimination. Students' completed a preproject and postproject attitudes toward obese persons scale (Barra, 2015) to evaluate discriminatory beliefs and actions. All clinical groups had a significant positive change in their own weight prejudices postobesity education intervention. Chi-square analysis was utilized as a measure of association between pre- and postobesity education with clinical application concerning obesity size, body odor, appearance, and lifestyle, along with provider fear of a back injury. Promoting nursing student awareness of obese client bias can dissipate negative stigmas to promote a therapeutic patient-provider relationship.