UPmémoires

English

Introduction:

Obesity stereotypes or prejudices frequently transmitted by physicians, or medical students, toward their patients are documented in medical practices, particularly in reviews published until 2014. This review aims to update the weight medical stereotypes, prejudices and their consequences in terms of discrimination, focusing in prevention practices.

Methods:

A systematic review of literature was carried-out on different databases: MEDLINE, Web of Science, APA PsyArticles from 2014 to 2021. We included articles where at least one stereotype or prejudice was clearly defined on overweight or obesity, where stereotype or prejudice was produced by physician (or medical student) on patient, eventually where a consequence of stereotype or prejudice was reported on health education produced for primary or tertiary prevention, and studies conducted on physicians, medical students or patients and studies with a clearly defined outcome (dependent variable) We excluded studies on stereotype threat and articles not written in English.

Results:

Fourteen articles were selected from 2014 to 2021, a majority from English-speaking countries. We found weight stereotypes or prejudice coming from physicians and medical students. These stereotypes have consequences in terms of health education.We found that physicians and medical students are largely lacking in knowledge and training on obesity. Knowledge and training help to reduce stereotypes.

Conclusion:

This work will provide the scientific community with exhaustive information about weightstereotypes, prejudice and discrimination in health education during preventive clinical practices. It is necessary to explore this domain and to elaborate tools contributing to medical student training and patient self-efficacy and well-being.