Method: Undergraduate students (n = 261) in health-related majors reported their beliefs about the extent to which overweight and obese individuals (a) have physical difficulties performing daily activities, engaging in physical activity, and losing weight (7 items rated from 1, not at all difficult, to 5, extremely difficult), and (b) experience various forms of stigma and encouragement within fitness environments (7 items rated from 1, not at all common, to 5 very common). Participants also completed a measure of empathy (8 items rated from 1, very strongly disagree, to 4, very strongly agree), and single item measures of comfort and confidence in working with overweight and obese clients (rated from 1, not at all comfortable/confident, to 5, completely comfortable/confident).
Analysis/Results: Participants reported that overweight and obese clients would have the greatest difficulty engaging in vigorous physical activity (M = 4.41, SD = 0.89), maintaining weight loss (M = 4.06, SD = 0.86, and meeting the physical activity guidelines (M = 4.00, SD = 0.98) and the least difficulty with activities of daily living (M = 2.92, SD = 1.08). Experiences thought to be most common for overweight and obese clients in fitness settings included being judged (M = 4.08, SD = 1.15), looked down upon (M = 3.77, SD = 1.14), and discriminated against (M = 3.65, SD = 1.23). Experiences thought to be the least common included being made to feel comfortable (M = 3.11, SD = 1.31) and being encouraged to be physically active (M = 3.19, SD = 1.20). Participants reported moderately high levels of empathy toward overweight and obese individuals (M = 3.00, SD = 0.50), as well as comfort (M = 4.34, SD = 0.83) and confidence (M = 4.32, SD = 0.77) in working with overweight and obese clients.
Conclusions: Pre-health professionals have a variety of beliefs regarding overweight and obese clients and additional research is needed to determine how such beliefs might impact interactions with and care provided to clients in fitness settings.