Introduction:

Being overweight is a public health problem; however, health professionals are not yet prepared for an appropriate response. In addition, this issue has not been widely discussed and worked on during undergraduate courses, making it woefully invisible. Thus, the guiding question of this study is “From the point of view of medical residency students, what educational strategies would give greater visibility to the issue of excessive weight during their course?”

Objective:

To identify educational strategies to face the invisibility of the theme “overweight in the medical curriculum”, in the view of students.

Methods:

We chose the qualitative approach. The answers to the questions on the issue were submitted to thematic analysis, through which we sought to apprehend suggestions for greater visibility of the issue in the teaching/learning process.

Results:

The results showed two categories of suggestions: encouraging a healthy lifestyle in the medical school environment; educational interventions aimed at improving students’ skills in approaching the overweight person.

Conclusion:

It was possible to conclude that there is a need to invest in strategies to change the behaviour of medical students so as to incentivise a healthy lifestyle in the medical school environment as well as implementing measures with short-term results - educational interventions aimed at improving students’ skills in approaching excessive weight. Students recognise the need for these interventions to occur in an interdisciplinary and interprofessional context, aimed at the group of students and teachers/preceptors involved in professional training.

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