Reducing weight bias in nursing students through simulated patient visits

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for nursing students in their second or fourth year. It tests a training that aims to reduce weight bias.

Age

18 to 35 years

Sex

All sexes can join.

Main reasons for not taking part

• Students who are not nursing students
• Nursing students taking courses out of the normal curriculum sequence
• Students outside the age range of 18-35 years
• Students who decline to consent

The registry criteria, word for word

Check if you might fit

Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.

• Are you between 18 and 35 years old?YesNo

What the trial wants to find out

This randomized controlled trial will be a curriculum-embedded weight sensitivity training program. There will be two groups. The control group will receive the standard obesity lecture (SOL) and the intervention group will receive the BRAVE Intervention (BRAVE: Building Respect and Acceptance through Valuing Everybody); a Weight Bias Reduction (WBR) intervention. Both groups will have two simulation encounters with standardized patients who are living with obesity and the outcome will be to improve weight bias and increase weight sensitivity over one year. Participants will include second- and fourth-year nursing students. Two cohorts of nursing students will be recruited over two years during orientation for their NUR courses (n = 368); a combined total of 420 students are typically enrolled in these courses. Study participants will be randomized by 8-person simulation groups (clusters) to either the BRAVE intervention or SOL control group. They will then participate in the two simulation-based experiences and weight bias reduction education or standard obesity lecture, respectively, with a debriefing segment and educational components. To compare the efficacy of BRAVE groups to SOL groups in validated questionnaires will assess changing attitudes, beliefs, and clinical communication behaviors when comparing baseline to 3 months post-intervention, and one year after the intervention.

The 2 groups in the trial

• BRAVE InterventionTreatment being tested

  BRAVE (Building Respect and Acceptance through Valuing Everybody). Participants will receive two 30-minute Simulated Patients (SP) encounters: 1 at baseline (before the weight bias or obesity presentations) and one at 1.5 months after the initial education. The simulation encounters will include SPs living with higher body weight and will emphasize communication skills to prevent weight bias in the clinical environment. BRAVE arm will consist of two educational sessions focused on reducing weight bias in health care. Both BRAVE SP encounters will provide a Debriefing for Meaningful Learning segment tailored to focus on reducing weight bias.

  Treatment: BRAVE

• SOLPlacebo, for comparison

  SOL (Standard Obesity Lecture). The control arm will experience two standard obesity lectures and two simulation encounters with standardized patients living with higher body weight. The control condition consists of two sessions, each of which includes a one-hour presentation on obesity. Both simulations will be followed by standard Debriefing for Meaningful Learning segments, but these segments will focus only on the medical conditions and risk factors of obesity and no feedback on communication skills will be provided.

  Treatment: SOL: Standard Obesity Lecture