A Nationwide Qualitative Assessment of Third and Fourth Year Medical Students’ Views of Childhood Obesity

Medical professionals need to be prepared to both treat and prevent childhood obesity (CO) and therefore need to understand the multifactorial causes and consequences of CO. In order to qualitatively determine medical students’ views of CO, researchers conducted individual interviews with third and fourth year allopathic and osteopathic medical students across the nation. Researchers asked students to describe the term CO, explain the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of CO, and enumerate additional resources they might need to treat and prevent CO. Researchers asked students to give examples from their coursework and rotations. Transcript analysis revealed that students were not confident in educating patients to make dietary and lifestyle changes because this is not taught in medical school. Students who had more knowledge about CO were those who had or were pursuing an additional graduate degree, had volunteered with prevention programs, or had a personal interest in the subject. Many students felt that while they are learning about medical conditions and metabolic disorders, they are not learning the more practical knowledge they need to prevent and treat CO. Medical schools need to provide students both with information about CO and the more skills‐based knowledge to prevent and treat CO, whether through additional time allotted in medical school or through continuing education. Grant Funding Source : N/A