When health workers talk about obesity, too often, advocates say, the conversation is framed around eating less and moving more. But that is not helpful, said Patty Nece, JD, chair of the Weight Bias Task Force with the Obesity Action Coalition. And it is not how weight works.
Nece said public health advocates can do their part to reduce stigma, starting with language used in their own communities. Setting healthy norms, such as taking soft drinks out of schools or whole families committing to do physical activity together, supports everyone’s health no matter their size, without using prevention language that could hurt feelings.
Nece also suggested that health advocates reframe how they think of willpower.
“I don’t see it as being able to resist the cake on the buffet,” Nece told The Nation’s Health. “Willpower is much deeper than that. Willpower is that person who steps out of their house to walk, is yelled at and called a big fat cow, and they keep walking. Do we really think 2 billion people around the world lost their willpower?”
Scott Kahan, MD, MPH, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness and medical director of the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance, suggested public health advocates and professionals who want to fight weight bias in their practices seek out resources online, including:
u the STOP Obesity Alliance’s “Why Weight?” guide, which offers constructive tips for making people’s experiences positive, from providing waiting room seating that supports higher weights and offering large-size blood pressure cuffs and gowns to suggesting patient-centered language and questions;
u the Bipartisan Policy Center’s “Provider Competencies for the Prevention and Management of Obesity” report, released in June, which helps providers achieve proficiency in working with people with obesity; and
u the Rudd Center at University of Connecticut and the Obesity Action Coalition, which both share resources on their websites, including the coalition’s weight bias reporting tool.
In June, the American Medical Association adopted a policy to equip medical students and physicians with the education to diagnose, prevent and manage obesity. The Association for Size Diversity and Health offers many tools, including a scientific study search and a Health at Every Size expert list, at www.sizediversityandhealth.org. The Health at Every Size community offers experts and connections at https://haescommunity.com. This fall, the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals will offer four free hourlong webinars on eating disorders and weight bias that schools of medicine and public health can use to train students.
For more information on obesity stigma, see our October 2017 cover story.
[LINK TO: http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/47/8/1.1.full]
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
