(P138) ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS REGARDING THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH OBESITY IN A TERTIARY CARE INSTITUTION. RESULTS OF A PAN-INSTITUTION SURVEY

Background/Purpose: Stigma regarding obesity impacts the psychological and physiological health of many cardiac patients. Clinical care transformation is urgently required to treat obesity as both a biological and pathological disease. This will shift healthcare paradigms to improve care of the underlying disease of obesity, that leads to multiple health complications. Healthcare providers (HCP) play a critical role in obesity management and improving outcomes and quality of life. Studies suggest that practitioners have negative attitudes, beliefs and hold biases towards people living with obesity (Fan et al, 2020). Reluctance to provide equitable care may further be influenced by their beliefs regarding the causes of obesity. These views lead to circumventing interactions with patients regarding treatment interventions. To improve the treatment and management of obesity, our tertiary cardiac care institution aims to integrate the 2020 Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines into clinical practice. To enhance understanding of the institutions educational and resource needs, a baseline survey evaluating the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, perception of opportunity for intervention, and training or materials required for HCP regarding obesity was conducted.

METHODS/RESULTS: An online survey was emailed to the institution’s HCP’s using the methodology by Bucher Della Torre and colleagues (2018) and reviewed by our committee. A total of 255 survey respondents were captured over a four-week period in March 2021. Analysis of survey data identified themes in relation to knowledge, training, and education. HCP do understand that multiple factors can lead to obesity. However, survey outcomes indicate that HCP are unclear about how obesity is a chronic disease independently rather than an outcome from other health conditions. There was a strong bias towards “lack of willpower” regarding the causes of obesity with over 60% indicating ambiguity towards working with patients with obesity; >25% agreed/strongly agreed they would prefer not to work with patients of higher weights and >35% of respondents felt ill-prepared to discuss the topic of obesity from fear of making patients feel guilty. Over 50% of HCP felt untrained to support patients living with obesity and lacked patient education resources to use in clinical practice. Over 90% agreed that training, education materials and institutional protocols to support patients with obesity would be useful.

CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The results of the survey have provided the foundation for the development of a comprehensive institutional program that addresses education, training, and system level supports that restructures dialogue with patients to promote best practices for cardiac patients living with obesity.