Abstract
Purpose: To explore bias among student nurses within the nursing major regarding overweight children.
Setting: College of Nursing at a large Midwestern University in an urban setting.
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with students (N = 213) at the junior (n = 104) and senior (n = 109) levels of the nursing majors. Participants completed a survey regarding their perceptions of overweight children.
Results: A majority of the participants were female (79.7%), white (80%), and self-identified as 'normal weight' (74%). Overall, junior and senior students reported negative perceptions of overweight children (p= 0.119). Significant differences were found between perceptions of overweight children, with senior students identifying the children as "lazy" (Χ²= 6.687, p= 0.035), yet junior students reported the children "like food" (Χ²= 8.732, p= 0.013). A majority of students reported that overweight children had "no will power" (Χ²= 1.162, p = 0.559), or "self-control" (Χ²= 0.627, p = 0.731) and "overeat" (Χ²= 0.709, p = 0.702). Students generally perceived that overweight children were "slow" (Χ²= 1.09, p = 0.580) and "weak" (Χ²= 0.550, p = 0.759). A positive perception held by both groups was that overweight children are "shapely" (Χ²= 0.983, p= 0.612).
Conclusions: Responses indicated that the majority of students had misconceptions about overweight children.
Implications: Nursing educators could benefit from these findings, as it suggests a need to clarify students' misperceptions about overweight children. Further studies are encouraged, to examine students' perception about overweight children from cross cultural perspectives.
Sigma Membership
Eta Nu
Lead Author Affiliation
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Cross-Sectional
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Childhood Obesity, Student Nurses, Overweight/obesity, Perception, Pediatric Obesity, Attitude to Obesity, Students, Nursing, Student Attitudes
Recommended Citation
Albargawi, Moudi S.; Treisman, Pamela E.; Snethen, Julia; Treisman, Ruth Ann; Buseh, Aaron; and Kelber, Sheryl T., "Childhood overweight bias: Perceptions of student nurses within the nursing major" (2017). General Submissions: Presenations (Oral and Poster). 30.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/gen_sub_presentations/2016/posters/30
Conference Name
Southeastern Wisconsin Nursing Research Conference
Conference Host
Marquette University College of Nursing,Southeastern Wisconsin Nursing Research Consortium
Conference Location
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Conference Year
2016
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Peer-review: Single Blind
Acquisition
Self-submission
Childhood overweight bias: Perceptions of student nurses within the nursing major
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Purpose: To explore bias among student nurses within the nursing major regarding overweight children.
Setting: College of Nursing at a large Midwestern University in an urban setting.
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with students (N = 213) at the junior (n = 104) and senior (n = 109) levels of the nursing majors. Participants completed a survey regarding their perceptions of overweight children.
Results: A majority of the participants were female (79.7%), white (80%), and self-identified as 'normal weight' (74%). Overall, junior and senior students reported negative perceptions of overweight children (p= 0.119). Significant differences were found between perceptions of overweight children, with senior students identifying the children as "lazy" (Χ²= 6.687, p= 0.035), yet junior students reported the children "like food" (Χ²= 8.732, p= 0.013). A majority of students reported that overweight children had "no will power" (Χ²= 1.162, p = 0.559), or "self-control" (Χ²= 0.627, p = 0.731) and "overeat" (Χ²= 0.709, p = 0.702). Students generally perceived that overweight children were "slow" (Χ²= 1.09, p = 0.580) and "weak" (Χ²= 0.550, p = 0.759). A positive perception held by both groups was that overweight children are "shapely" (Χ²= 0.983, p= 0.612).
Conclusions: Responses indicated that the majority of students had misconceptions about overweight children.
Implications: Nursing educators could benefit from these findings, as it suggests a need to clarify students' misperceptions about overweight children. Further studies are encouraged, to examine students' perception about overweight children from cross cultural perspectives.