Obese individuals are highly stigmatized and face multiple forms of prejudice and discrimination because of their weight (1,2). The prevalence of weight discrimination in the United States has increased by 66% over the past decade (3), and is comparable to rates of racial discrimination, especially among women (4). Weight bias translates into inequities in employment settings, health-care facilities, and educational institutions, often due to widespread negative stereotypes that overweight and obese persons are lazy, unmotivated, lacking in selfdiscipline, less competent, noncompliant, and sloppy (2,5–7). These stereotypes are prevalent and are rarely challenged in Western society, leaving overweight and obese persons vulnerable to social injustice, unfair treatment, and impaired quality of life as a result of substantial disadvantages and stigma. In 2001, Puhl and Brownell published the first comprehensive review of several decades of research documenting bias and stigma toward overweight and obese persons (2). This review summarized weight stigma in domains of employment, health care, and education, demonstrating the vulnerability of obese persons to many forms of unfair treatment. Despite evidence of weight bias in important areas of living, the authors noted many gaps in research regarding the nature and extent of weight stigma in various settings, the lack of science on emotional and physical health consequences of weight bias, and the paucity of interventions to reduce negative stigma. In recent years, attention to weight bias has increased, with a growing recognition of the pervasiveness of weight bias and stigma, and its potential harmful consequences for obese persons. The aim of this article is to provide an update of scientific evidence on weight bias toward overweight and obese adults through a systematic review of published literature since the 2001 article by Puhl and Brownell. This review expands upon previous findings of weight bias in major domains of living, documents new areas where weight bias has been studied, and highlights ongoing research questions that need to be addressed to advance this field of study. A systematic literature search of studies published between January 2000 and May 2008 was undertaken on computerized psychological, medical, social science, sport, and education databases including PsycINFO, PubMed, SCOPUS, ERIC, and SPORTDiscus. The following keyword combinations were used: weight, obese, obesity, overweight, BMI, fat, fatness, size, heavy, large, appearance, big, heavyweight, bias, biased, discrimination, discriminatory, discriminate, stigma, stigmatized, stigmatization, prejudice, prejudicial, stereotype(s), stereotypical, stereotyping, victimization, victimize(d), blame(d), blaming, shame(d), shaming, teasing, tease(d), unfair, bully, bullying, harassment, assumptions, attributions, education, health, health care, sales, employment, wages, promotion, adoption, jury, customer service, housing, media, television. Reference lists of retrieved articles and books were also reviewed, and manual searches were conducted in the databases and journals for authors who had published in this field. Most studies retrieved for this review were published in the United States. Any articles published internationally are noted with their country of origin. Research on weight stigma in adolescents and children was excluded from this review, as this literature was recently reviewed elsewhere (8). Unpublished manuscripts and dissertations were also excluded. In addition, issues pertaining to measurement of weight stigmatization, and demographic variables affecting vulnerability to weight bias such as gender, age, race, and body weight are not addressed in this review. This article instead primarily reviews the evidence of specific areas where weight bias occurs toward adults and its consequences for those affected. This article is organized similarly to the first review published by Puhl and Brownell (2), with sections on weight bias in settings of employment, health care, and education. New sections have been added including weight bias in interpersonal relationships and the media, as well as psychological and physical health consequences of weight bias, and the status of stigma-reduction research. As with the 2001 article, this review also provides an update on legal initiatives to combat weight discrimination, and outlines specific questions for future research.

https://www.sochob.cl/pdf/obesidad_adulto/The%20Stigma%20of%20Obesity%20%20A%20Review%20and%20Update.pdf

The stigma of obesity: a review and update.

This article reviews information on discriminatory attitudes and behaviors against obese individuals, integrates this to show whether systematic discrimination occurs and why, and discusses needed work in the field. Clear and consistent stigmatization, and in some cases discrimination, can be documented in three important areas of living: employment, education, and health care. Among the findings are that 28% of teachers in one study said that becoming obese is the worst thing that can happen to a person; 24% of nurses said that they are "repulsed" by obese persons; and, controlling for income and grades, parents provide less college support for their overweight than for their thin children. There are also suggestions but not yet documentation of discrimination occurring in adoption proceedings, jury selection, housing, and other areas. Given the vast numbers of people potentially affected, it is important to consider the research-related, educational, and social policy implications of these findings.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1038/oby.2001.108

Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity

The objective of this study was to critically review the empirical evidence from all relevant disciplines regarding obesity stigma in order to (i) determine the implications of obesity stigma for healthcare providers and their patients with obesity and (ii) identify strategies to improve care for patients with obesity. We conducted a search of Medline and PsychInfo for all peer-reviewed papers presenting original empirical data relevant to stigma, bias, discrimination, prejudice and medical care. We then performed a narrative review of the existing empirical evidence regarding the impact of obesity stigma and weight bias for healthcare quality and outcomes. Many healthcare providers hold strong negative attitudes and stereotypes about people with obesity. There is considerable evidence that such attitudes influence person-perceptions, judgment, interpersonal behaviour and decision-making. These attitudes may impact the care they provide. Experiences of or expectations for poor treatment may cause stress and avoidance of care, mistrust of doctors and poor adherence among patients with obesity. Stigma can reduce the quality of care for patients with obesity despite the best intentions of healthcare providers to provide high-quality care. There are several potential intervention strategies that may reduce the impact of obesity stigma on quality of care.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/obr.12266

Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity

Objective: To describe the current knowledge, attitudes, and practices of French general practitioners (GPs) in the field of adult overweight and obesity management.



Research Methods and Procedures: A cross-sectional telephone survey interviewed a sample of 600 GPs, representative of the private GPs in southeastern France. A four-part questionnaire assessed personal and professional characteristics, attitudes and opinions about overweight and obesity, relevant knowledge and training, and practices (diagnostic methods, clinical assessments, weight loss objectives, types of counseling).



Results: Most GPs knew that weight problems are health-threatening, and 79% agreed that managing these problems is part of their role. Nevertheless, 58% did not feel they perform this role effectively, and one-third did not find it professionally gratifying. Approximately 30% had negative attitudes toward overweight and obese patients; 57% were pessimistic about patients’ ability to lose weight; 64% often set weight loss objectives more demanding than guidelines call for; and neither food diaries nor nutritional education were used systematically. GPs’ feelings of effectiveness and attitudes toward obese patients were associated with some professional (training) and personal (BMI, personal diet experience) characteristics.



Discussion: GPs’ feelings of ineffectiveness may stem from an underlying conflict between practitioners’ and patients’ representations of weight problems and the relationship problems this causes. Inadequate practices and health care system organization may also play a role.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1038/oby.2005.89

Overweight and obesity: knowledge, attitudes, and practices of general practitioners in france.

Despite the growing epidemic of extreme obesity in the United States, weight management is not adequately addressed in primary care. This study assessed family physicians' practices and attitudes regarding care of extremely obese patients and factors associated with them. A cross-sectional, self-administered survey was mailed to 500 family physicians in New Jersey (NJ) during March-May 2008. Measures included knowledge, weight management approaches, attitudes toward managing obesity, challenges with examinations, availability of supplies, and strategies to improve care. Response rate was 53% (N = 255). Bariatric surgery and weight loss medications were infrequently recommended, particularly in physicians with higher volume of extremely obese patients (odds ratio (OR) 0.38; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23, 0.62 and OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.31, 0.85 for surgery and medications, respectively). Higher knowledge was associated with increased frequency of recommendations of weight loss medications (P < 0.0001) and bariatric surgery (P < 0.0001). There was a high prevalence of negative attitudes, particularly in younger physicians and those with lower patient volume. Increased knowledge of weight-loss diets was associated with less dislike in discussing weight loss (P < 0.0001), less frustration (P = 0.0001), less belief that treatment is often ineffective (P < 0.0001), and less pessimism about patient success (P = 0.0002). Many providers encountered challenges performing examinations on extremely obese patients. More education of primary care physicians, particularly on bariatric surgery, specific examination techniques, and availability of community resources for obese persons is needed. Further research is needed to determine if interventions to increase knowledge of physicians will lead to less negative attitudes toward weight loss and extremely obese patients.

Family Physicians' Practices and Attitudes Regarding Care of Extremely Obese Patients

CAMPBELL, KAREN, HELEN ENGEL, ANNATIMPERIO, CATHERINE COOPER, AND DAVIDCRAWFORD. Obesity management: Australian generalpractitioners’ attitudes and practices. Obes Res. 2000;8:459–466.Objectives: To document general practitioners’ (GPs) atti-tudes and practices regarding the prevention and manage-ment of overweight and obesity.Research Methods and Procedures: A cross-sectional sur-vey of a randomly selected sample of 1500 Australian GPswas conducted, of which 752 questionnaires were returned.The measures included views on weight management, def-initions of success, views regarding the usefulness of drugs,approaches to and strategies recommended for weight man-agement, and problems and frustrations in managing over-weight and obesity.Results: GPs view weight management as important andfeel they have an important role to play. Although theyconsider themselves to be well prepared to treat overweightpatients, they believe that they have limited efficacy inweight management and find it professionally unrewarding.GPs view the assessment of a patient’s dietary and physicalactivity habits and the provision of dietary and physicalactivity advice as very important. The approaches leastlikely to be considered important and/or least likely to bepracticed were those that would support the patient inachieving and maintaining lifestyle change.Discussion: There remains considerable opportunity to im-prove the practice of GPs in their management of over-weight and obesity. Although education is fundamental, it isimportant to acknowledge the constraints of the GPs’ exist-ing working environment.Key words: general practitioners, health professionals,management, prevention

/pdf/obesity-management-australian-general-practitioners-a95eajdrap.pdf

Obesity Management: Australian General Practitioners' Attitudes and Practices

Issue addressed: Supermarkets are a potential setting in which to deliver nutrition promotion to the community A pilot project was able to examine the requirements for health authorities to form partnerships with other sectors and opportunities and limitations of using industry- based communication strategies to promote healthy eating messages Methods: Pre-intervention interviews helped determine communication strategies Post-intervention interviews were used to assess content and appropriateness of nutrition resources, collaboration between key participants, satisfaction with training and barriers/promoters to implementation An intercept survey with consumers measured the impact of the intervention Results: The survey of more than 1,120 women indicated only limited success 12% of respondents from the intervention supermarkets had watched demonstrations and 20% had noticed the recipe leaflets, with only 5% able to name the promotion Supermarket owners, representatives from participating food companies and demonstrators were supportive of the concept and content used in the promotion and qualitative analysis provides indicators for similar promotions Conclusions: Health authorities considering 'partnerships' with the food/supermarket industry should recognise the diversity of roles and responsibilities of the organisations involved in the supply of food through the retail market and allow for long term planning when working with them Head office of the supermarket group has a key coordinating role, however, individual supermarkets will be driven by financial returns So what?: The recognition and trust in the name of health authorities by consumers means that organisations value an association with them (author abstract)

/pdf/supermarkets-as-a-setting-to-promote-healthy-eating-some-4wid5r3ltp.pdf

Supermarkets as a setting to promote healthy eating: some lessons learned in Victoria

Objective: To describe characteristics of the Victorian out of school hours care (OSHC) sector to assess its potential role in promoting healthy lifestyles to children and their families.



Design:  Written questionnaires were sent to 1100 Victorian OSHC programs to collect information about the services, foods and activities offered to children, the training and resources utilised by staff and the type of information sent home to parents/guardians.



Subjects:  A total of 426 Victorian OSHC coordinators completed questionnaires in the present descriptive study (39% response rate).



Setting:  Out of school hours care provides care for 5–12 years olds before school, after school and/or during school holidays.



Results:  Over 80% of coordinators reported offering fruit, breads, cereals, and milk and dairy products. One-third offer vegetables as part of meals or snacks. One-third reported offering cakes, biscuits and/or slices, and chips and/or pastries. About 17% reported offering water, whereas 24% reported offering cordial/soft drinks and fruit juice. Cooking was offered as an after-school activity by about half of those surveyed. Active games were common (62%) as were indoor active games and sports (36%). Sedentary activities were also commonplace (37–51%). Only about 30% of OSHC coordinators had participated in nutrition and/or physical activity training in the previous two years. Few OSHC programs sent home health information to parents/guardians.



Conclusion and application:  Opportunities exist to help Victorian OSHC programs with nutrition and physical activity information, resources and training. Although the findings of the present study are specific to Victoria, they highlight the potential role of the growing OSHC sector to help improve the health of Australian children.

Food and activity in out of school hours care in Victoria

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Catherine Cooper

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Obesity Management: Australian General Practitioners' Attitudes and Practices

Supermarkets as a setting to promote healthy eating: some lessons learned in Victoria

Food and activity in out of school hours care in Victoria