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Impact of non‐physician health professionals' BMI on obesity care and beliefs
Author(s) -
Bleich Sara N.,
Bandara Sachini,
Bennett Wendy L.,
Cooper Lisa A.,
Gudzune Kimberly A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1002/oby.20881
Subject(s) - medicine , overweight , body mass index , weight loss , obesity , family medicine , weight management , health care , weight stigma , health professionals , pharmacy , nursing , economics , economic growth
Objective Examine the impact of non‐physician health professional body mass index (BMI) on obesity care, self‐efficacy, and perceptions of patient trust in weight loss advice. Methods A national cross‐sectional Internet‐based survey of 500 US non‐physician health professionals specializing in nutrition, nursing, behavioral/mental health, exercise, and pharmacy collected between January 20 and February 5, 2014 was analyzed. Results Normal‐BMI professionals were more likely than overweight/obese professionals to report success in helping patients achieve clinically significant weight loss (52% vs. 29%, P = 0.01). No differences by health professional BMI about the appropriate patient body weight for weight‐related care (initiate weight loss discussions and success in helping patients lose weight), confidence in ability to help patients lose weight, or in perceived patient trust in their advice were observed. Most health professionals (71%) do not feel successful in helping patients lose weight until they are morbidly obese, regardless of BMI. Conclusions Normal‐BMI non‐physician health professionals report being more successful than overweight and obese health professionals at helping obese patients lose weight. More research is needed to understand how to improve self‐efficacy for delivering obesity care, particularly among overweight and class I obese patients.