title: Impact of non-physician health professionals' BMI on obesity care and beliefs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Examine the impact of non-physician health professional body mass index (BMI) on obesity care, self-efficacy, and perceptions of patient trust in weight loss advice.
  
  
  METHODS
  A national cross-sectional Internet-based survey of 500 US non-physician health professionals specializing in nutrition, nursing, behavioral/mental health, exercise, and pharmacy collected between January 20 and February 5, 2014 was analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Normal-BMI professionals were more likely than overweight/obese professionals to report success in helping patients achieve clinically significant weight loss (52% vs. 29%, P = 0.01). No differences by health professional BMI about the appropriate patient body weight for weight-related care (initiate weight loss discussions and success in helping patients lose weight), confidence in ability to help patients lose weight, or in perceived patient trust in their advice were observed. Most health professionals (71%) do not feel successful in helping patients lose weight until they are morbidly obese, regardless of BMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Normal-BMI non-physician health professionals report being more successful than overweight and obese health professionals at helping obese patients lose weight. More research is needed to understand how to improve self-efficacy for delivering obesity care, particularly among overweight and class I obese patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Sara N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Bleich
authors.forename: Sachini
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bandara
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Kimberly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Gudzune
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D035502:Trust / Q000523:psychology; D061217:Weight Reduction Programs