title: Medical students' attitudes toward obese patient avatars of different skin color.
abstract: Physicians' biases for skin color and obesity may negatively affect health-care outcomes. Identification of these biases is the first step to address the problem. We randomized 128 U.S medical students into one of four animated videos of avatar physician-patient counseling sessions, varying the weight and skin color of an elderly patient avatar: white-thin, black-thin, white-obese and black-obese. Medical students viewed white obese avatars as unattractive, ugly, noncompliant, lazy, and sloppy. Medical students' comments suggested a paternalistic attitude toward avatar patients. Avatar-mediated experiences can elicit medical students' bias potentially enabling medical educators to implement bias reduction interventions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of E-Learning & Multimedia Research (LEMUR), Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Bruce W. Carter VAMC, University of Miami, FL, USA. allen.andrade@va.gov
authors.forename: Allen D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.forename: Jorge G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mintzer
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cifuentes
authors.forename: Ramanakumar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anam
authors.forename: Josh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diem
authors.forename: Orlando
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gómez-Marín
authors.forename: Huaping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Bernard A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Roos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity; D011287:Prejudice; D012880:Skin Pigmentation; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult