It can backfire when doctors make a show of their own healthy living

By Alex Fradera Doctors who want to avoid accusations of hypocrisy should keep themselves in reasonable shape if they intend to advise their patients to do the same. Indeed, some medical organisations explicitly encourage their physicians not only to stay fit, but to make sure that their patients know it, thereby role-modelling the recommended behaviours. However, new research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that doctors who promote their own fitness may actually scare away overweight patients who are most in need of help. Researchers Lauren Howe and Benoît Monin lifted real-life MD profiles from the website of an American medical group, and sorted them into two types. Fitness-focused profiles explicitly stated that the doctor prioritised staying healthy and active, or cited two or more active hobbies like hiking and biking; meanwhile the other profiles didn’t emphasise fitness. Howe and Monin recruited 143 people who had some concerns about their weight and a BMI over 25, the cutoff for being considered overweight. The participants viewed and then rated five fitness-focused doctor profiles and five comparison profiles. The participants expressed a greater suspicion that fitness-focused doctors would be judgmental towards patients with unhealthy habits, and they said they would be less willing to choose such a doctor as their own physician. While it’s no good alienating prospective patients, nor would faking unhealthy habits be a good...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Health Source Type: blogs