@inproceedings{f222e628076e483aa230220b1f1549d7,
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.",
keywords = "Avatars, Computer simulation, Health disparities, Physician bias, Undergraduate medical education",
author = "Andrade, {Allen D.} and Ruiz, {Jorge G.} and Mintzer, {Michael J.} and Pedro Cifuentes and Ramanakumar Anam and Josh Diem and Orlando G{\'o}mez-Mar{\'i}n and Huaping Sun and Roos, {Bernard A.}",
year = "2012",
month = jan,
day = "1",
doi = "10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23",
language = "English (US)",
isbn = "9781614990215",
series = "Studies in Health Technology and Informatics",
publisher = "IOS Press",
pages = "23--29",
booktitle = "Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19",
note = "Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19: NextMed, MMVR 2012 ; Conference date: 09-02-2012 Through 11-02-2012",
}