title: Beliefs about the causes of obesity in a national sample of 4th year medical students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Physician knowledge of the complex contributors to obesity varies. We do not know whether today's medical students are graduating with deep understanding of the causes of obesity. Our objective was to assess beliefs about causes of obesity in a national sample of 4th year medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  We randomly selected 2000 4th year students from a random sample of 50 U.S. medical schools and asked them to rate the importance of several factors as causes of obesity. Of those invited, 1244 (62%) responded. We conducted latent class analysis to identify groups with similar response patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most students demonstrated knowledge that obesity has multiple contributors. Students fell into 1 of 4 classes: (1) more likely to endorse all contributors (28%), (2) more likely to endorse physiological contributors (27%), (3) more likely to endorse behavioral or social contributors (24%), and (4) unlikely to endorse contributors outside of overeating and physical activity (22%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though students were generally aware of multiple causes, there were 4 distinct patterns of beliefs, with implications for patient care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Targeted interventions may help to improve depth of knowledge about the causes of obesity and lead to more effective care for obese patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Electronic address: phelan.sean@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Sean M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Phelan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota & Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, Minneapolis VAMC, VA Medical Center, One Veterans Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA. Electronic address: diana.burgess@va.gov.
authors.forename: Diana J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Road, PO Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA. Electronic address: sara.burke@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Sara E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Services Research, Administration & Policy, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Electronic address: prze0009@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Przedworski
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Road, PO Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA. Electronic address: John.Dovidio@yale.edu.
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Dovidio
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Electronic address: hard0222@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hardeman
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Electronic address: morris.megan@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Electronic address: vanryn.michelle@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Ryn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Diet; Learning; Medical students; Obesity; Weight bias; Weight gain