People who are heavier are often exposed to judgment and unfair treatment in their daily lives, a pervasive social problem known as weight stigma. This problem extends to healthcare settings, where patients' stigmatized experiences can lead to distrust of healthcare professionals and even medical avoidance.
On Tuesday, in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company. University Conrad Center for Food Policy and Health has launched a new educational website titled , which focuses on weight bias in medical settings.supportive obesity care” This website is intended for use by healthcare professionals to increase awareness of weight bias in healthcare settings, provide insight into the negative effects of weight bias on patients, reduce weight bias, and improve patient outcomes. It aims to provide strategies for providing supportive care. My weight is heavy.
“Our research shows that when people feel stigmatized by health care providers about their weight, they are more likely to have poorer health, lower quality of care, and avoid medical care in the future. “We know that there is,” said Rebecca Pull, the association's deputy director. She is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the UW Rudd Center. “More compassionate and supportive communication by healthcare professionals is essential to ensure that patients of all sizes receive appropriate support and clinical care.”
The new website responds to the growing call for education about weight bias in the medical community and strategies to improve the healthcare experience for larger patients. “At the Rudd Center, we receive numerous requests from medical professionals and health organizations for resources and training on these issues,” says Poole. “Our aim is to provide these resources in an accessible and useful way for health professionals to practice in clinical settings and for the education and training of students in health professions.”
This website offers a collection of free educational, evidence-based videos, podcasts, and handouts. Users can improve healthcare delivery, including resources on how to more collaboratively communicate with patients about weight-related health, create an inclusive and welcoming clinical care environment, and explain the pathophysiology of obesity to patients. You can expect to find a variety of tools to help you. In addition to videos by Dr. Puhl, this site also features resources from patient and clinician perspectives to demonstrate how healthcare providers can put these tools into practice.
“Our goal is to give healthcare professionals the tools they need to provide more respectful and supportive care to patients of all sizes,” says Poole.
For more information about this resource, please visit: Supportive Obesity Care Website.
