The weight of words: Discursive constructions of health in weight-neutral peer-reviewed journal articles

Zafir, Shoa; Jovanovski, Natalie

doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.01.009

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…77 Advising individuals to lose weight contributes to adverse physical and mental health (Table 2), promotes weight cycling, and perpetuates the harms of weight bias. [78][79][80] Weight cycling refers to the pattern of an individual repeatedly losing and gaining weight over time, most commonly through restrictive eating and intensive exercise. 78,79 Weight cycling carries a robust list of potential long-term damage to multiple body systems and overall metabolism (Table 2).…”

Section: Re-evaluate Clinical Recommendations To Lose Weightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating Weight Bias in the Clinical Setting: A New Approach to Care

Olson,

Muñoz,

Solis

et al. 2023

J Midwife Womens Health

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Weight bias toward patients in larger bodies is pervasive among health care providers and can negatively influence provider‐patient communication, as well as patients’ behavior and health outcomes. Weight bias has historical roots that perpetuate thinness and Whiteness as the cultural norm. Although weight bias remains socially acceptable in US culture, contributing factors to an individual's body size are complex and multifactorial. Providers and health care systems also consistently use body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of health status, despite its limitations and harmful effects in the clinical setting. This state of the science review presents 8 evidence‐based strategies that demonstrate how to mitigate harm from weight bias and improve quality of care and health outcomes for patients living in larger bodies. Person‐centered approaches to care include (1) eliminating clinical recommendations to lose weight; (2) shifting from a focus on weight to health; (3) implementing a size and weight‐inclusive approach; (4) engaging in weight bias self‐evaluation; (5) creating a welcoming environment for patients of all sizes; (6) seeking permission and learning the patient's story; (7) using weight‐inclusive language; and (8) re‐evaluating clinical guidelines and policies based on BMI. Midwives and other health care providers may benefit from training that re‐imagines the delivery of health care to patients in larger bodies.

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Section: Re-evaluate Clinical Recommendations To Lose Weightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating Weight Bias in the Clinical Setting: A New Approach to Care

Olson,

Muñoz,

Solis

et al. 2023

J Midwife Womens Health

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“…Opponents to a medical view on obesity include the Health at Every Size movement, which is weight neutral, thus rejecting weight as an indicator of health and opposing weight loss as an end goal [8]. These views resulted in today's body positivity movement [9] and proposals to characterize 'overweight' and 'obese' as stigmatizing and normative labels [10]. Collectives of feminists, fat activists, and health professionals similarly participate in 'antidiet movements' [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Participatory Modeling to Support Paradigm Shifts in Public Health: An Application to Obesity and Evidence-Based Policymaking

Giabbanelli,

MacEwan

2024

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The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) of British Columbia suggested that a paradigm shift from weight to well-being could address the unintended consequences of focusing on obesity and improve the outcomes of efforts to address the challenges facing both individuals and our healthcare system. In this paper, we jointly used artificial intelligence (AI) and participatory modeling to examine the possible consequences of this paradigm shift. Specifically, we created a conceptual map with 19 experts to understand how obesity and physical and mental well-being connect to each other and other factors. Three analyses were performed. First, we analyzed the factors that directly connect to obesity and well-being, both in terms of causes and consequences. Second, we created a reduced version of the map and examined the connections between categories of factors (e.g., food production, and physiology). Third, we explored the themes in the interviews when discussing either well-being or obesity. Our results show that obesity was viewed from a medical perspective as a problem, whereas well-being led to broad and diverse solution-oriented themes. In particular, we found that taking a well-being perspective can be more comprehensive without losing the relevance of the physiological aspects that an obesity-centric perspective focuses on.

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“…4,5 When used by healthcare professionals, condition-first language may perpetuate perceived stigma and lower the quality of communication with people with obesity or diabetes. [5][6][7][8] For example, describing a person with diabetes as "a diabetic" has been associated with stereotypes of laziness and lacking motivation. 9 Over the past decade, a widespread effort within the diabetes community (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of condition‐first language, or language that labels individuals by their disabilities or disease (e.g. obese, diabetic), can decrease motivation and increase stigmatization 4,5 . When used by healthcare professionals, condition‐first language may perpetuate perceived stigma and lower the quality of communication with people with obesity or diabetes 5–8 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Person‐first language in diabetes and obesity scientific publications

et al. 2023

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AimsWe aimed to quantify the use of person‐first language (PFL) among scholarly articles focusing on diabetes or obesity.MethodsPFL and condition‐first language (CFL) terms for diabetes and obesity (e.g. diabetic, obese) were identified from existing guidelines and a review of the literature. Exact phrase literature searches were conducted between 2011 and 2020 and results were categorised as PFL, CFL or both.ResultsAmong diabetes articles, 43% used PFL, 40% used CFL and 17% contained both. Among obesity articles, 0.5% used PFL, 99% used CFL and 0.2% used both. The use of PFL increased by 3% per year for diabetes articles, compared to 117% for obesity articles. The rate of adoption of PFL in diabetes articles was unchanged in 2018–2020 compared to the 3 years prior.ConclusionsWhile the use of person‐first language in diabetes articles had increased over the review period, its rate of adoption has started to slow. Conversely, the use of PFL in obesity articles is nascent and increasing.

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The weight of words: Discursive constructions of health in weight-neutral peer-reviewed journal articles

Cited by 11 publications

References 87 publications

Mitigating Weight Bias in the Clinical Setting: A New Approach to Care

Mitigating Weight Bias in the Clinical Setting: A New Approach to Care

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Participatory Modeling to Support Paradigm Shifts in Public Health: An Application to Obesity and Evidence-Based Policymaking

Person‐first language in diabetes and obesity scientific publications

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