How do you feel when your healthcare providers discuss your weight? A new study emphasizes how important it is for them to be sensitive to the words used.
Whether overweight or underweight do you feel shamed, at the doctor’s office? If so, how can you be more proactive?
I’ve slowly started being more upfront about this issue and telling my doctor and others which words I prefer, as well as my philosophy on weight and dieting – and I think it’s making a difference in how they approach the subject.
Discussions of weight between provider and patient are sensitive, and talking about them can leave the patient feeling stereotyped or discriminated against, according to researchers with the Yale Program for Obesity Weight and Eating Research (POWER), directed by Carlos M. Grilo, PhD, professor of psychiatry and of psychology at Yale.
Patients with obesity don’t want to be told they are “fat” or “large sized” by their healthcare providers, according to a Yale study that assessed words used to stigmatize excess weight.
