TY - JOUR
T1 - How conceptualising obesity as a disease affects beliefs about weight, and associated weight stigma and clinical decision-making in health care
AU - Rathbone, Joanne A.
AU - Cruwys, Tegan
AU - Jetten, Jolanda
AU - Banas, Kasia
AU - Smyth, Lillian
AU - Murray, Kristen
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship awarded to the first author. The authors would like to thank the team of medical students at the University of Glasgow who contributed significantly to participant recruitment: Reuben Heaton, Attika Chaudhary, Alex Easson, Kirstyn Gardner, Yang Yang Cao, Alex Livingston, Charis Fraser, Hayley Macpherson, Beth Carmichael, and Matthew Roy. The authors would also like to thank Lenny R. Vartanian, Lydia E. Hayward, and Jasmine Fardouly for sharing with us the photo used in the hypothetical patient's medical profile. Open access publishing facilitated by The University of Queensland, as part of the Wiley ‐ The University of Queensland agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Health Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.
PY - 2022/9/26
Y1 - 2022/9/26
N2 - Objectives: This study empirically investigated how conceptualizing obesity as a disease (i.e., pathologizing obesity) affects beliefs about weight, and weight stigma and discrimination among health professionals. Design: An experiment that manipulated the pathologization of obesity was completed by a multi-nation sample of health professionals from Australia, UK, and USA (N = 365). Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions where they were asked to conceptualize obesity as a disease or not a disease; then presented with a hypothetical medical profile of a patient with obesity who was seeking care for migraines. We measured biogenetic causal beliefs about obesity, endorsement of weight as a heuristic for health, negative obesity stereotypes, and treatment decisions. Results: Participants in the disease (vs. non-disease) condition endorsed biogenetic causal beliefs more strongly and made more migraine-related treatment recommendations. No effect of the manipulation was found for the remaining outcomes. Biogenetic causal beliefs about obesity were associated with less weight stigma. Endorsing weight as a heuristic for health was associated with greater weight stigma and differential treatment recommendations focused more on the patient's weight and less on their migraines. Conclusions: Pathologizing obesity may reinforce biogenetic explanations for obesity. Evidence demonstrates complex associations between weight-related beliefs and weight stigma and discrimination. Biogenetic causal beliefs were associated with less weight stigma, while endorsing weight as a heuristic for health was associated with greater weight stigma and differential treatment. Further research is needed to inform policies that can promote health without perpetuating weight-based rejection in health care.
AB - Objectives: This study empirically investigated how conceptualizing obesity as a disease (i.e., pathologizing obesity) affects beliefs about weight, and weight stigma and discrimination among health professionals. Design: An experiment that manipulated the pathologization of obesity was completed by a multi-nation sample of health professionals from Australia, UK, and USA (N = 365). Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions where they were asked to conceptualize obesity as a disease or not a disease; then presented with a hypothetical medical profile of a patient with obesity who was seeking care for migraines. We measured biogenetic causal beliefs about obesity, endorsement of weight as a heuristic for health, negative obesity stereotypes, and treatment decisions. Results: Participants in the disease (vs. non-disease) condition endorsed biogenetic causal beliefs more strongly and made more migraine-related treatment recommendations. No effect of the manipulation was found for the remaining outcomes. Biogenetic causal beliefs about obesity were associated with less weight stigma. Endorsing weight as a heuristic for health was associated with greater weight stigma and differential treatment recommendations focused more on the patient's weight and less on their migraines. Conclusions: Pathologizing obesity may reinforce biogenetic explanations for obesity. Evidence demonstrates complex associations between weight-related beliefs and weight stigma and discrimination. Biogenetic causal beliefs were associated with less weight stigma, while endorsing weight as a heuristic for health was associated with greater weight stigma and differential treatment. Further research is needed to inform policies that can promote health without perpetuating weight-based rejection in health care.
KW - weight stigma
KW - weight-based discrimination
KW - health care
KW - health professionals
KW - obesity as a disease
UR - https://osf.io/2d9cy/
U2 - 10.1111/bjhp.12625
DO - 10.1111/bjhp.12625
M3 - Article
SN - 1359-107X
JO - British Journal of Health Psychology
JF - British Journal of Health Psychology
ER -