Essay: Obesity stigma: Prevalence and impact in healthcare

In this text, the author Stuart Flint, argues that stigmatization against obese persons has serious impacts on their wellbeing and their decisions to seek treatments for the same. The text, which has been published in the British Journal of Obesity, offers a glimpse of how obese persons suffer in the hands of the healthcare professionals and the society at large. This paper provides a concise summary, analysis, and reflections of the article.
Persons who are obese often suffer rejection, ridicule, stereotyping, and stigma, which affect their psychological wellbeing and health in general. Many people within the society have negative perceptions against obese and overweight individuals that result in a feeling of low self-esteem and confidence. The media and the education systems hugely contribute to the stereotyping of obese people as gluttons, socially inept, lazy, unattractive, lacking in self-esteem, and intellectually deprived.
The fact that obesity is controllable also adds to the stigma. Flint argues that healthcare professionals play a crucial role in the management of the condition. But this is not always the case as obesity stigmatization has continued to be reported among these professionals. Some nurses, psychologists, dietitians, and physicians contribute to shaming obese persons (Flint). Incidentally, obesity stigma has not been adequately evaluated since the evaluations are mostly pegged on explicit attitudes measurement instead of measuring implicit attitudes.
Studies have pointed out to the fact that physicians consider obese patients to be more annoying and less compliant, and less self-disciplined as compared to non-obese patients. According to the text, “seeing obese people is a waste of their time and that they had less respect for these patients” (Flint 1). As a result, the physicians lose patience and desire to assist these patients. Nurses view them as lazy and without self-discipline while healthcare students consider these patients as lacking in willpower and self-control.
These forms of stigmatizations from healthcare professionals cause obese patients to feel disrespected and develop a perception that their conditions are not taken seriously by the people who are supposed to help them. The text has highlighted the attitudes of the healthcare professionals who have not improved in curbing this condition. Many patients have been dismissed, disrespected and criticized by healthcare professionals. The perception that this has created is that the issues that are related to weight should not be seriously taken and that healthcare professionals are reluctant to address them. The text has given an example of some obese patients who have been unwilling to seek professional help because of their previous experiences with the nurses. This leads to a breakdown in communication, which further exacerbates their poor health. The adverse perception of the health professionals to the patients has led to many patients either canceling or avoiding appointments. The relationships between the patients and practitioners have been further adversely affected because the practitioners embarrass the children patients in front of their parents. However, with effective intervention strategies such as through education awareness programs, this situation can be changed.
While the text provides essential obesity stigmatization details that cannot be ignored, it fails to address the primary intervention strategies for obese patients. Treatment starts with an attitude, which is drawn from within an individual. In a society that is highly judgmental and opinionated, it would be foolhardy for a patient to expect that everyone would be friendly to them. The best way is to develop a positive attitude and ignore what people think about your overweight and obese situation.
The journal has also addressed the terminology and language that is used by practitioners and the effect that the same has on the patients. Different terms are used differently by medics to refer to patients with obesity. Some of the derogatory demands have had adverse effects on obese and overweight people. Some healthcare professionals have been said to stigmatize the patients by using terms like pig, elephant, chubby, and fat. Many patients have been embarrassed by some of these comments and have avoided subsequent appointments. The language that is used in the healthcare setting should be appropriate if the fight against the disease is to be won. The patient-practitioner relationship has improved for the proper language that has been used when attending to the patients.
Educational intervention is one of the responses that can be successfully applied to decrease obesity stigmatization. Interacting with the patients and parents through an objective discussion could also help in reducing the stigmatization that is associated with the disease. The article sadly points out that there is no evidence of an effective intervention that could help in the reduction of the stigma that is associated with obesity. The journal states that the current stigmatization demonstrates that ongoing training has failed in resolving this issue.
Reference
Flint, Staurt. “Obesity stigma: Prevalence and impact in healthcare.” British Journal of Obesity, 1.1 (2015): 1–40.
2019-2-12-1549962168