A randomised controlled trial of a lived experience and education-based weight bias intervention for Australian healthcare students
Authors' conclusion
The two brief weight bias videos had limited efficacy in reducing Australian healthcare students' explicit weight bias on most outcome measures, but improved students' empathy for patients and understanding of the socioeconomic contributors to obesity. Considerable reductions in explicit weight bias may require integrating weight bias reduction strategies into university curricula, with repeated exposure.
Study context
- Population
- University students from 15 healthcare disciplines at 14 Australian universities
- Participants
- 103 students
- Comparison
- Empathy-focused (Experience) or education-focused (Science) brief video vs smoking-focused video (Control)
- Primary endpoint
- Explicit weight bias measures
- Follow-up
- immediate post-intervention and 2-week follow-up
Methodological detailsthree-arm, parallel, Generalised linear mixed models (complete case and per-protocol)
- Three-arm
- Parallel
- Generalised linear mixed models (complete case and per-protocol)
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
immediately post-intervention
- Experience vs Control · clinical confidence; improved with Experience; per-protocol analysis
- g 0.79; P = 0.027
- Science vs Control · empathy; improved with Science; complete case analysis
- g 0.74; P = 0.002
- Science vs Experience · empathy; improved with Science; complete case analysis
- g 0.51; P = 0.039
- Science vs Experience · understanding of socioeconomic contributors to obesity; improved with Science; complete case analysis
- g 0.68; P = 0.005
Further findings
| Outcome | g | P value |
|---|---|---|
| Empathy for patients living with obesity · 2-week follow-upScience vs Control · improvement sustained with Science · only improvement sustained at follow-up | 0.49 | P = 0.041 |
Take-home messages (content analysis)
- Students recognised the complexity of overweight and obesity, the existence and negative impact of weight bias in society and healthcare, and the need for improved methods to reduce weight bias
Original publication
A randomised controlled trial of a lived experience and education-based weight bias intervention for Australian healthcare students. Int J Obes (Lond). Published 28 February 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →