Biases toward weight, diet, and exercise expressed by health science students and their professors

Background Bias is a recognized to inhibit a holistic model of healthcare. Yet, little has been investigated into how bias in the educational process influences the development of bias in healthcare professionals. Methods 344 students and professors (152 M/172 F/ 20 other) completed an electronic survey regrading ideals of diet, exercise, health, body weight, and how one obtains information for developing or modeling healthy behaviors. Responses were analyzed based on group averages, Results Social media appears to be the most cited source for information on lifestyle interventions. Even with awareness of social pressures to be thin, “thinnest” body was deemed to be healthiest. A greater confirmation bias was expressed in older respondents regarding advice to overweight individuals, with younger respondents being more conscious of their approach. Conclusion For students, biases appear to develop through combination of preconceived ideals reinforced by educators. Recommendations appear to be based on personal beliefs and projection of biases by educators and students based on personal anecdotes or over-reliance on social media for modeling of appropriate healthy behaviors and attitudes.