Investigation of the Relationship Between Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward and Beliefs About Individuals With Obesity, Their Empathy Level, and Body Image Flexibility

Negative attitudes and beliefs leading to discrimination against individuals with obesity and to their exclusion can cause these individuals to experience various biological, psychological, and social problems. Nursing students constitute the group that will provide care, services, and counseling to individuals with obesity in the future. The present study was aimed at determining the relationship between nursing students’ attitudes toward and beliefs about individuals with obesity and their empathy and body image flexibility levels. This study that has a cross-sectional correlational research design was conducted with 445 students studying at Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Nursing between February 2023 and July 2023. The Sociodemographic Information Form, Beliefs About Obese Persons (BAOP) scale, Attitudes Toward Obese Persons (ATOP) scale, Body Image Flexibility Scale (BIFS), and Toronto Empathy Scale (TES) were used as data collection tools. In order to ensure explanatoriness in the analysis of the data, the multiple regression/ correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the scores for the overall BAOP and ATOP scales, which were dependent variables, and BMI and the scores for the overall TES and BIFS, which were the independent variables. The mean scores that the students participating in this study obtained from the overall BAOP and ATOP were 23.89 ± 4.49 and 72.48 ± 11.19, respectively. The mean scores they obtained from the overall TES and BIFS were 51.61 ± 8.80 and 52.19 ± 15.28, respectively. The results demonstrated that higher levels of empathy and body image flexibility were significantly associated with lower levels of negative beliefs about individuals with obesity (B = −0.107, p =.026; B = 0.271, p <.001) and positive attitudes toward individuals with obesity (B = −0.143, p =.002; B = 0.343, p <.001). In the study, as the students’ empathy and body image flexibility levels increased so did their positive perceptions toward individuals with obesity. Nurses should acquire empathic skills during their education in order to demonstrate an equitable and inclusive approach to care and to provide positive health experiences to individuals with obesity. In order for young people studying at university to be more responsive to others, they should be encouraged to develop body image flexibility for their own and others’ bodies. It is also recommended that topics on combating stigma and discrimination to prevent negative attitudes toward and beliefs about individuals with obesity should be added to the curriculum of nursing students.