The evaluation of the fat phobia levels of Sakarya University students and their attitudes towards obese individuals

The Evaluation of the Fat Phobia Levels of Sakarya University Students and Their Attitudes Towards Obese Individuals INTRODUCTION and OBJECTİVE: Obesity, with its increasing worldwide prevalence and incidence, and the diseases and mortalities it causes, presents as a serious public health problem because of the diseases that obesity causes and the deaths caused by those coupled with certain reasons such as the changes to a person's body, it is possible that negative attitudes and fat phobic behavior may be adopted towards obese individuals. The aim of this study is to evaluate the fat phobia levels of Sakarya University students and their attitudes towards obese individuals. MATERIALS and METHOD: This descriptive and cross sectional study was conducted with 2100 students studying at the Sakarya University after taking Institutional permissions and ethics board permissions between May and December 2015. The analysis of the data collected through an introductory form encompassing socio demographic characteristics, the Fat Phobia Scale (FPS), Attitudes Towards Obese People Scale (ATOP), and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II) was performed in a computerized environment using percentages, mean values, standard deviations, Cronbach Alpha, Mann Whitney U, Kruskall Wallis-H, and Pearson's correlation tests. FINDINGS: The average FPS score of the students was 3,72±0,63, their average ATOP score was 59,95±0,63, and the students were determined to have moderate levels of fat phobia. Gender, education style, class, and parental education status were found to affect the fat phobia levels of the students, and the variables except maternal education status were found not to affect attitudes towards obese individuals. While a negative weak relationship between BMI and fat phobia was found, BMI was found not to affect attitudes towards obese individuals. Significant relationships between FPS, ATOP, and HPLP II scores were found. CONCLUSION: It is found that fat phobia is at medium level among university students and sex, education, class and parent education play a role in fat phobia levels while a healthy life style behaviours affects the fat phobia levels and the attitudes against obese people. Keywords: Attitude, Fat phobia, Obesity, Student, University