Views Among the General Public on New Anti-Obesity Medications and on the Perception of Obesity as a Failure of Willpower.

Abstract

Background: The experience of obesity stigma is associated with negative clinical outcomes that include increased mental health problems and additional weight gain. Researchers have treated the public view that obesity is caused by poor willpower as both an element of obesity stigma and as a cause of obesity stigma. Here we test the hypothesis that awareness of new and effective glucagon-like peptide receptor agonist anti-obesity medications (AOMs) will encourage the view that obesity is a biologically-determined medical condition rather than a personal willpower failure and thereby lessen obesity stigma.

Materials and methods: Two questionnaire studies, in which participants were randomly assigned to either read about the success of AOMs or to read various alternative material (N = 640 in total), investigated the effect that AOM awareness has on views of obesity.

Results: Contrary to the study hypotheses, reading about AOMs did not increase the degree to which participants viewed obesity as a medical condition, nor did it reduce the role willpower failure was believed to play in obesity. Across conditions, participants reporting more personal success in weight loss without medication indicated greater belief that obesity was amenable to self-control, expressed greater obesity stigma, and held less positive attitudes toward the use of AOMs to manage weight.

Conclusion: Taken together, these two studies provide no evidence that the success of AOMs will, in the short-term, lead to changes in how people view the etiology of obesity or to a reduction in obesity stigma. Correlational data suggest the possibility that blame and stigma associated with obesity may be robustly informed by participants' understanding of their own experiences managing weight.