Doctor shows smiling older patient how to use Continuous Glucose Monitor

Women's Healthcare

Weight stigma can compromise women’s healthcare experiences.

A number of factors make women particularly susceptible to weight stigma and its negative health consequences. It’s important for healthcare professionals to understand unique risk factors for women and take steps to reduce weight stigma in patient care.

Cover of a presentation by Dr. Rebecca Puhl titled, "Addressing Weight Stigma in Primary Care for Women"

Addressing weight stigma in primary care for women

Stigma-related barriers that compromise women’s healthcare experiences can be prevented with patient-centered care, respectful communication, and collaboration.

Strategies to reduce weight stigma in women's healthcare

Perceived weight stigma in medical settings can have concerning implications for women’s utilization of healthcare. This handout contains 11 strategies that can be implemented to limit stigma in the healthcare setting and create a compassionate environment for all women.

Download Handout

Doctor discussing lab results with a female patient in a supportive, compassionate manner.

Content Referenced in this Module

Video by Rebecca Puhl about improving healthcare for people of all body sizes

How can we improve healthcare for people of all body sizes?

Professor Puhl highlights how we can adapt our attitudes, language, and environment to provide satisfactory care.

Video by Dr. Rebecca Puhl illustrating communication techniques to avoid weight stigma.

Communicating with compassion and respect to dispel stigma

Learn what forms of communication to use (and avoid) for optimizing supportive conversations with patients.

Video with Patty Nece sharing insights into weight discrimination

A patient’s perspective of weight bias: Insights from Patty Nece

Patty describes what it is like to be a patient experiencing weight stigma in the healthcare setting.

Video with Dr. Jaime Almandoz sharing how weight bias hinders healthcare

How weight bias hinders healthcare: Observations from Dr. Jaime Almandoz, M.D.

A discussion with Dr. Jaime Almandoz, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, & Division of Endocrinology, UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Guided self-reflection on the impact of weight stigma

Guided self-reflection on weight stigma in healthcare

Become more aware of your views about body size, interactions with patients, and strategies for ongoing, reflective practice.

Handout showing motivational interviewing is a useful tool when discussing weight management.

Motivational interviewing

How to use motivational interviewing, an evidence-based approach for guiding behavior change, with example scripts for patient interactions.

Tools to use for reflective listening.

Reflective listening

How to use reflective listening strategies to improve the quality of your communication with patients of diverse body sizes.

Tools to use for patient-centered communication.

Patient-centered language

A summary of how to use patient-centered language when talking about body weight.

 

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