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.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Studies in Health Technology and Informatics |
Pages | 23-29 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Volume | 173 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2012 |
Event | Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19: NextMed, MMVR 2012 - Newport Beach, CA, United States Duration: Feb 9 2012 → Feb 11 2012 |
Other
Other | Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19: NextMed, MMVR 2012 |
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Country | United States |
City | Newport Beach, CA |
Period | 2/9/12 → 2/11/12 |
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Keywords
- Avatars
- Computer simulation
- Health disparities
- Physician bias
- Undergraduate medical education
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biomedical Engineering
- Health Informatics
- Health Information Management
Cite this
Medical students' attitudes toward obese patient avatars of different skin color. / Andrade, Allen D.; Ruiz, Jorge G.; Mintzer, Michael J.; Cifuentes, Pedro; Anam, Ramanakumar; Diem, Joshua; Gomez-Marin, Orlando W; Sun, Huaping; Roos, Bernard A.
Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. Vol. 173 2012. p. 23-29.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
}
TY - GEN
T1 - Medical students' attitudes toward obese patient avatars of different skin color
AU - Andrade, Allen D.
AU - Ruiz, Jorge G.
AU - Mintzer, Michael J.
AU - Cifuentes, Pedro
AU - Anam, Ramanakumar
AU - Diem, Joshua
AU - Gomez-Marin, Orlando W
AU - Sun, Huaping
AU - Roos, Bernard A.
PY - 2012/12/1
Y1 - 2012/12/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Avatars
KW - Computer simulation
KW - Health disparities
KW - Physician bias
KW - Undergraduate medical education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860611424&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84860611424&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23
DO - 10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 22356951
AN - SCOPUS:84860611424
SN - 9781614990215
VL - 173
SP - 23
EP - 29
BT - Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
ER -