Obesity
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Comparative Study
Coping with obesity stigma affects depressed mood in African-American and white candidates for bariatric surgery.
Depressed mood in severely obese, bariatric surgery-seeking candidates is influenced by obesity stigma, yet the strategies for coping with this stigma are less well understood. This study hypothesized that coping strategies are significantly associated with depressed mood above and beyond demographic factors and frequency of weight-related stigma, with specific coping strategies differing between racial groups. Severely obese, bariatric surgery-seeking adults (N = 234; 91 African Americans) completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Stigmatizing Situations Inventory (SSI). ⋯ The study found that regardless of race, depressed mood in severely obese, bariatric surgery-seeking clients is related to the frequency of stigmatizing experiences and associated coping strategies. This suggests that efforts to reduce the deleterious effects of weight-related stigma need to focus both on reducing the frequency of stigmatization and on teaching effective coping strategies. These efforts also need to take into account the client's racial background.
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Using a national cross-sectional survey of 500 primary care physicians conducted between 9 February and 1 March 2011, the objective of this study was to assess the impact of physician BMI on obesity care, physician self-efficacy, perceptions of role-modeling weight-related health behaviors, and perceptions of patient trust in weight loss advice. We found that physicians with normal BMI were more likely to engage their obese patients in weight loss discussions as compared to overweight/obese physicians (30% vs. 18%, P = 0.010). Physicians with normal BMI had greater confidence in their ability to provide diet (53% vs. 37%, P = 0.002) and exercise counseling (56% vs. 38%, P = 0.001) to their obese patients. ⋯ Physicians in the normal BMI category were more likely to believe that physicians should model healthy weight-related behaviors-maintaining a healthy weight (72% vs. 56%, P = 0.002) and exercising regularly (73% vs. 57%, P = 0.001). The probability of a physician recording an obesity diagnosis (93% vs. 7%, P < 0.001) or initiating a weight loss conversation (89% vs. 11%, P ≤ 0.001) with their obese patients was higher when the physicians' perception of the patients' body weight met or exceeded their own personal body weight. These results suggest that more normal weight physicians provided recommended obesity care to their patients and felt confident doing so.