Beliefs about the causes and solutions to obesity: A comparison of GPs and lay people

New metrics for the Lancet Standing Commission on Liver Disease in the UK

“…Ogden and Flanagan found that GPs are ambivalent about the effectiveness of obesity interventions, finding that "obesity does not belong within the medical domain". 19,20 In 2004, Hankey and colleagues found that less than 10% of GPs had carried out any form of audit to determine the prevalence of overweight or obesity in their practice population, and that health professionals were generally unclear on how to deliver effective weight management advice. 21 Other published evidence points to GPs' concern about the potential for damaging their relationship with their patients by bringing up the issue of obesity.…”

Visual identification of obesity by healthcare professionals: an experimental study of trainee and qualified GPs

“…9,10 Another barrier to intervening may be a GP's own weight; overweight GPs have been shown to be less likely to offer weight loss advice to their patients and this may be because they are conscious of their own weight. 11 The present study examined whether GPs and trainee GPs could correctly recognise healthy-weight, overweight, and obese males, and whether they would consider intervening with such patients.…”

Beliefs about Causes of Obesity: A Comparison of Australian Doctors, Psychologists and Community Members

“…Ogden and Flanagan [17], compared 73 British GPs' and 311 lay people's beliefs about the causes of, and solutions to obesity. Their results indicated that GPs generally believed that obesity is caused by behavioral and psychological factors, whereas lay people believed that biological factors caused obesity.…”

“…Nor has the alignment of these beliefs with those of other health professionals and the general community. As such, the current study aimed to build on findings by Ogden and Flanagan [17], through applying their methodology to an Australian sample. The primary objective of the current study was to investigate differences in beliefs about causes of obesity between Australian doctors, psychologists, and a community sample.…”

“…First, considering the findings of Ogden and Flanagan [17] it was hypothesized that Australian doctor' and community members' beliefs about the causes and treatment of obesity would align with the beliefs of their British counterparts. It was hypothesized:…”