The effect of dentists' body-weight size on student social judgments of dental skill and patients' behavioural intentions: a vignette study.

OBJECTIVES Where previous work has suggested that over-weight individuals may be subject to negative social judgments, a finding also seen in judgments applied to healthcare professionals (HCPs), this study investigated whether these findings extend to judgments made about dental practitioners. METHODS A photo of a normal weight male and one of a normal weight female dentist were digitally modified to reliably show them as overweight, giving a total of 4 conditions. In a single-blind quasi-randomised controlled study of 302 undergraduate and postgraduate student participants used a 5 point Likert scale to appraise a single, gender-matched colour photograph as to whether they thought the dentist depicted was competent, professional, caring, had patients' best interests at heart, and was a good dentist. They further rated their future intentions to follow behavioural advice (reduce snacking and take-up flossing) given by the depicted dentist. RESULTS The data were analysed using independent sample t-tests. There were no differences in outcomes as a function of the weight status of the depicted dentist in any of the variables explored with the exception of the normal-weight images being rated as more caring than the overweight ones (p<.04). CONCLUSIONS Images of overweight dentists do not receive lower social judgement ratings than images of normal-weight dentists. Previous research in medicine reporting adverse social judgments made of over-weight HCPs does not apply to dental practitioners. Future research should focus on factors that may explain these findings. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Dentists appear to be protected from the adverse effect of overweight on social judgments of their personal characteristics and on their health-promoting advice.