Examining the Effect of Role-playing Exercise by Utilizing an Obesity Suit in a Simulation Scenario on Weight Bias and Empathy Levels Among Nutrition Sciences Students

Ariel University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Obesity; Bias, Weight

Treatments: Behavioral: A role-playing exercise by utilizing an obesity suit in a simulation scenario

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06192537

AU-HEA-SS-20231016-2

Details and patient eligibility

About

A quasi-experimental design (i.e., "One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design") will be applied among 34 convenient samples of undergraduate students in their first year of nutrition sciences program at Ariel University and Tel-Hai College. The intervention will take place at the simulation centers of the institutions. All participants will be asked to wear an obesity simulation suit (Unisex obesity Simulation suit, Erler-Zimmer, Germany) and to participate in a standardized scenario that simulates meetings between a person with obesity and a 'registered dietitian'. The 'registered dietitian' will be presented by a professional role-player and the scenario will encompass different levels of weight bias. At baseline, 1- and 3-week post-intervention both groups will be asked to fill in a survey using "Qualtrics" software. The survey will include the Anti-Fat Attitudes questionnaire (AFA), the Short-Form of Fat-Phobia scale (F-scale), the Weight-Implicit Association-Test (weight-IAT), and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Data on demographics, weight history, and perception, measurement of actual weight and height, and the beliefs about the causes of obesity questionnaire will be collected at baseline.

Enrollment: 34 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• undergraduate students in their first year of the nutrition sciences program at Ariel University or Tel-Hai College
• age ≥18 years
• having fluency in Hebrew
• ability to wear an obesity suit
• willingness to participate in the study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

34 participants in 1 patient group

Intervention

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: A role-playing exercise by utilizing an obesity suit in a simulation scenario