Physician and patient attitudes toward obesity.

Several studies have found that health care professionals tend to hold negative attitudes regarding obesity. The degree to which patients perceive these attitudes, however, remains unclear. This study examined physicians' and their obese patients' attitudes toward obesity. In addition, the physicians' attitudes were compared with their obese patients' perceptions of their physicians' attitudes. Though both physicians and their obese patients reported ambivalent overall attitudes regarding obesity, the physicians reported less negative attitudes than what their patients perceived. The implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.