Supportive Obesity Care a Subject of Attention at UConn

UConn’s Rudd Center has launched a new educational website for healthcare professionals titled “Supportive Obesity Care.” The goal of this project is to equip healthcare professionals with knowledge and tools to provide more respectful, supportive, and compassionate care to patients of all body sizes.

In announcing the new initiative, the Rudd Center newsletter aimed at its primary target audience, saying “If you are a clinician, we hope that you will find the collection of evidence-based educational videos, podcasts, handouts, and resources on this website helpful to improve healthcare delivery to your patients. Additionally, we invite you to share this resource with your colleagues in the healthcare setting to help raise awareness about weight stigma and strategies to address this problem in clinical care.”

The new website, which includes a range of information to inform clinicians and the public, points out that obesity occurs in over 40% of US adults and is recognized as chronic with a complex etiology. “Our society can be hostile toward people with high weight, who commonly face judgment, prejudice, and unfair treatment in their daily lives, including the healthcare setting,” the site explains, noting that “weight stigma is harmful to health and well-being and creates barriers to effective patient care.” 

It also emphasizes that “while society often assumes people to be personally responsible for their weight, research indicates that body weight is determined by multiple factors, many that are outside of an individual’s control.”

Dr. Rebecca Puhl is Deputy Director for the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health and Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at UConn. Dr. Puhl is responsible for identifying and coordinating research and policy efforts aimed at reducing weight stigma and discrimination.

“Healthcare professionals often find it difficult to broach the topics of weight and weight management with patients. Optimal patient care requires an understanding and awareness of weight stigma, its impact on health, and the strategies necessary to reduce bias.”

UConn is also pursuing research on the subject, and the website highlights why it is an issue that merits attention.

“Known as “weight bias” or “weight stigma,” these experiences occur for both children and adults in many aspects of daily life. People face weight discrimination in the workplace, biased attitudes from health care professionals, negative stereotypes in the media, barriers in education, and weight stigma in interpersonal relationships. These stigmatizing experiences are harmful, leading to both immediate and long-term consequences for emotional and physical health, reducing quality of life.”

The topics on the new website range from the pathophysiology of obesity to how to have supportive conversations with patients about weight, offering practical knowledge and strategies that are applicable in everyday clinical practice.