This dataset includes survey data from clerkship-year medical students at the NYU School of Medicine as well as test score data from the Objective Structured Clinical Experience (OSCE), which tests clerkship-year students’ ability to counsel standardized actor-patients with obesity effectively. The OSCE is administered after a three-day interclerkship intensive program entitled, “Fostering Change in Our Patients,” which provides instruction on nutrition, obesity physiology, weight management, and disordered eating. The OSCE includes students interviewing and counseling a standardized patient-actor about weight management, and the student’s communication and counseling proficiency was evaluated by the standardized patient.

Only data from students who consented to include their data in the Medical Education Research Registry (117 out of 151 students in the Class of 2019) were included. The survey included questions on obesity attitudes and physician competency on counseling patients with obesity. Questions elicited student beliefs about the causes of obesity and their attitudes towards people with obesity. Of the 117 students who consented to the medical student registry, 71 (61%) responded to the survey.