52 Support or advice could be sought if physiotherapists have difficulty understanding how their attitudes may affect patients. see more What is already

known on this topic: Healthcare clinicians often ascribe overweight or obese people with negative characteristics, such as laziness or low intelligence. Such weight stigma has considerable negative health effects. The prevalence of weight stigma among physiotherapists has not been extensively investigated. What this study adds: Many physiotherapists demonstrate weight stigma, both explicitly but also implicitly in their treatment choices. Physiotherapists could reflect on their own attitudes towards people who are overweight. Note: Readers who are interested in assessing their own attitudes towards people who are overweight can complete the Anti-Fat Attitudes questionnaire online

and receive selleck chemicals a calculated score at the following web address: http://weightstigma.info/ eAddenda: Appendix 1 can be found online at doi:10.1016/j.jphys.2014.06.020 Ethics approval: The University of Queensland (UQ) and Curtin University (Curtin) Ethics Committees approved this study. All participants gave informed consent before data collection began. Competing interests: None declared. Source(s) of support: None declared. Acknowledgements: Thank you to the physiotherapists who participated in the study and its pilot, and for the advice and support of a number of many others. This study was conducted by the primary author as part of the requirements for a MClinPty (Curtin) and contributes to her PhD (Psychology, UQ). Thank you to C Crandall for approving the Anti-Fat Attitudes questionnaire to be included as an appendix. Correspondence: Jenny Setchell, Psychology, The University of Queensland, Australia. Email: [email protected] “
“Over one-quarter of the total health burden in Australia is estimated to be due to five key modifiable lifestyle-related risk factors: tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake, high body mass, and physical inactivity (Begg et al 2007).

Internationally, governments are grasping the overwhelming importance of prioritising prevention and, although Australian data are used as examples in this Editorial, the issues and principles to rectify them are relevant to most countries. In Australia a national preventive health agency (ANPHA) has recently been Modulators established. The purpose of the ANPHA is to promote effective primary prevention by contributing to policy and practice through the better use of evidence and collaboration. The ANPHA ‘Knowledge Hub’ will provide links to online resources to assist physiotherapists to promote prevention to their clients, while the US Department of Health and Human Services provides tips for primary care professionals to raise prevention issues with their clients. National authorities are providing online resources aimed at the community to promote prevention.