The role of weight bias and role-modeling in medical students' patient-centered communication with higher weight standardized patients.

Abstract Objective Patients with obesity may experience less patient-centered care. We assessed whether medical students’ implicit/explicit weight-related attitudes and perceptions of normative attitudes are associated with patient-centered care for patients with obesity. Methods Third and fourth year medical students (N = 111) at one medical school completed a survey and participated in a patient care scenario with a standardized patient with obesity. Encounters were coded for patient-centered behavior. Predictors of patient-centered behaviors were assessed. Results Student perceptions that negative attitudes about patients with obesity are normative in medical school were significantly associated with poorer patient-centered behaviors, including lower attentiveness (b=-0.19, p = 0.01), friendliness (b=-0.28, p  Conclusions Negative normative attitudes and behaviors regarding obesity in the medical school environment may adversely influence the quality of patient-centered behaviors provided to patients with obesity. Practice implications Efforts to improve patient-centered communication quality among medical trainees may benefit from intervention to improve group normative attitudes about patients with obesity.