Medical students' attitudes toward obese patient avatars of different skin color

Allen D. Andrade; Jorge G. Ruiz; Michael J. Mintzer; Pedro Cifuentes; Ramanakumar Anam; Joshua Diem; Orlando W Gomez-Marin; Huaping Sun; Bernard A. Roos

doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23

Medical students' attitudes toward obese patient avatars of different skin color

Allen D. Andrade, Jorge G. Ruiz, Michael J. Mintzer, Pedro Cifuentes, Ramanakumar Anam, Joshua Diem, Orlando W Gomez-Marin, Huaping Sun, Bernard A. Roos

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

9 Scopus citations

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
Title of host publication	Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Pages	23-29
Number of pages	7
Volume	173
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23
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
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

Andrade, A. D., Ruiz, J. G., Mintzer, M. J., Cifuentes, P., Anam, R., Diem, J., Gomez-Marin, O. W., Sun, H., & Roos, B. A. (2012). Medical students' attitudes toward obese patient avatars of different skin color. In Studies in Health Technology and Informatics (Vol. 173, pp. 23-29) https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23

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

Andrade, AD, Ruiz, JG, Mintzer, MJ, Cifuentes, P, Anam, R, Diem, J, Gomez-Marin, OW, Sun, H & Roos, BA 2012, Medical students' attitudes toward obese patient avatars of different skin color. in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. vol. 173, pp. 23-29, Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 19: NextMed, MMVR 2012, Newport Beach, CA, United States, 2/9/12. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23

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Access to Document

10.3233/978-1-61499-022-2-23