{"doi":"10.1016/j.nut.2025.112813","title":"Examining the effect of an obesity suit role-playing exercise on empathy and weight bias in nutrition students","abstract":"Addressing weight bias in registered dietitians should start during their education. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a role-playing exercise utilizing an obesity suit on empathy and weight bias among nutrition science students. A quasi-experimental design was used with 34 first-year nutrition sciences students. Participants wore an obesity simulation suit and engaged in a standardized scenario illustrating weight bias. Surveys, including the Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire (AFA), the short form of the Fat-Phobia Scale (FPS), Weight Implicit Association Test (Weight-IAT), and Jefferson Scale of Empathy S version, were administered at baseline, 1-week, and 3-week post-intervention. Demographic and weight history data were collected at baseline. A total of 34 students participated in the study, with a median age of 24 years; 70.6% were women. The mean scores for the Weight-IAT test decreased over time ( P < 0. 001). In contrast, no significant changes were observed in AFA, FPS, or empathy scores ( P = 0. 877, P = 0. 053, P = 0. 960, respectively). While not statistically significant, the AFA \"fear of fat\" subscale showed an increasing trend (3.46 ± 0.39, 3.66 ± 0.42, 3.91 ± 0.46 at baseline, 1-week, and 3-week post-intervention, P = 0. 293), whereas the \"willpower\" subscale demonstrated a decreasing trend (4.40 ± 0.34, 3.82 ± 0.30, 3.81 ± 0.35 at baseline, 1-week, and 3-week post-intervention, P = 0. 081). An intervention involving an obesity suit and simulation scenario reduced implicit weight bias scores among nutrition science students. However, no significant changes were observed in overall anti-fat attitudes, fat-phobia, or empathy. NCT06192537 • Training nutrition students early is crucial to reducing weight bias in their roles. • Obesity-suit simulation role-play intervention reduced implicit weight bias. • No significant change was observed in explicit weight bias or empathy. • Trends showed a rising \"fear of fat\" and declining \"willpower\" beliefs. • Further research is needed to optimize obesity-suit simulations for empathy and weight bias.","journal":"Nutrition","year":2025,"id":533552,"datarank":0.16479184330021646,"base_score":1.0986122886681096,"endowment":1.0986122886681096,"self_citation_contribution":0.16479184330021646,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.16479184330021646,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":2,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9626,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT06192537"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1415344,"name":"Gizell Green","orcid":"0000-0002-3649-2145","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415345,"name":"Michael Pinus","orcid":"0000-0002-9449-1466","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415346,"name":"Sigal Tepper","orcid":"0000-0003-3885-117X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415347,"name":"Shiri Sherf‐Dagan","orcid":"0000-0003-1225-7551","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415774,"name":"Inbar Tayar-Wachsberger","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":46,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:51:32.301795Z","pmid":"40466592","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}