Go to main content
Formats
Format
BibTeX
MARCXML
TextMARC
MARC
DublinCore
EndNote
NLM
RefWorks
RIS

Files

Abstract

Weight bias and stigma can negatively impact the treatment of individuals seen to be overweight or underweight. This form of bias has been studied within general healthcare systems, but less work has gone into studying weight bias in therapeutic settings. A sample of graduate clinical psychology students, school psychology students, and practicing clinicians were investigated in regard to potential underlying weight biases (n=41). Participants were provided with a case study accompanied by a photograph that varied by group (the photo being the same in every regard for both groups other than the weight of the client). This was then followed by a questionnaire designed to assess participants’ beliefs about the client in the case study and willingness to work with the client; this questionnaire was developed from one used in Adams (2009). It was hypothesized that participants who received a photograph of someone perceived as being more “overweight” would display more tentativeness in working with that client and prescribe more eating-based symptoms and diagnoses to the client. There were no significant differences in apparent tentativeness to work with the client between groups or any increased prescription of eating-based or non-eating-based symptoms and diagnoses between groups. Study limitations and future directions are discussed to improve future research on weight bias in counseling. The creation of a more standardized measure of weight bias in investigating counselors and the production of weight bias research not reliant on self-reports would be effective starting points to add substantial contributions to literature surrounding the topic.

Details

PDF

Statistics

from
to
Export
Download Full History