A Call to Action: Addressing Medical School as a Source of Weight Stigma Requires Transformative Change

Abstract

Weight stigma, defined as negative attitudes and treatment toward individuals of higher body weight, is a major public health concern. Growing evidence points to its direct and indirect negative effects on health. As the prevalence of high body weight continues to increase, weight stigma represents a sociocultural health risk that impacts a significant proportion of the population. Unfortunately, the healthcare system remains a common source of weight stigma. Individuals report negative weight-related treatment from physicians, and physicians explicitly report negative attitudes about individuals of higher body weight. Although there is growing recognition that this is an issue among healthcare providers, weight stigma remains a socially acceptable form of bias and has proven particularly difficult to target within the healthcare system. Medical school represents a unique period to impact how physicians in training are prepared to treat individuals of diverse body shapes and weights. To accomplish this, it is essential to (1) critically interrogate the way body weight is positioned within the medical school curriculum (as a clinical characteristic, as a form of marginalization), (2) identify ways that weight stigma is explicitly and implicitly embedded within the training experience, and (3) leverage these discoveries to build a curriculum and training experience that produces physicians equipped to deliver patient-centered and inclusive care for individuals of all sizes. The aim of this work is to contextualize and characterize efforts at one U.S. medical school to develop a roadmap to address and undo weight stigma within the curriculum and training experience.