Table 3 Prominent categories of answers to the question "In your opinion, what can be done to improve the medical staff's attitude towards overweight patients?”
The category | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
Awareness of the existence and adverse effects of weight stigmatization | 501 | 52.7 |
Instruction of medical personnel by courses, trainings, and workshops | 184 | 19.3 |
Empathy, sensitivity, humanity, and respect | 160 | 16.8 |
To see beyond the fat | 103 | 10.8 |
To raise the issue of overweight during medical appointment only if relevant to the reason of the referral | 68 | 7.2 |
Involvement of the healthcare system (supervisors, accessible ways to file complaints, penalties) | 55 | 5.8 |
To ask the patients if it is okay to speak about their weight prior to raising the issue | 50 | 5.3 |
Awareness to the fact that not every fat person is unhealthy | 42 | 4.4 |
Awareness to the fact that fat people know they are fat, and have been trying to lose weight for years | 40 | 4.2 |
To offer practical tools and not just tell to lose weight | 34 | 3.6 |
Awareness to the fact that losing weight and sustaining lower weight is extremely hard | 33 | 3.5 |
Not to refer to the issue of overweight | 31 | 3.3 |
There is no hope | 28 | 2.9 |