A Conceptual Model for Addressing Weight Stigma and Health: Guiding Practitioner Conversations for Weight Health

Abstract

Practitioners working in a variety of healthcare settings increasingly face a dilemma when speaking with patients about weight health. On one hand, prescriptive weight-related health advice can exacerbate stigma, while on the other, ignoring insufficient health behavior engagement limits health and increases the risk of other adverse weight-related health conditions. Research has demonstrated that higher-than-optimal body weight is a correlate of morbidit and mortality, but has also demonstrated that weight stigma is pervasive, negatively impacting health, health behavior, and well-being. This article introduces a novel conceptual model to help practitioners initiate conversations about weight health by striving to support health behavior change in a way that deactivates and disempowers weight stigma. By advancing the acceptance principle from motivational interviewing and adapting its scope, the model focuses on destigmatizing attitudes and assumptions related to weight health to prevent or reduce generalized and internalized weight stigma. The model also focuses on limiting interpersonal stigma and its disruptive role in practitioner-patient communication by supporting personal autonomy for a lifestyle of health behavior. This article reports results from a rapid review and calls for research efforts to examine the potential causal role of active acceptance for reducing weight stigma. Overall, the conceptual model simultaneously promotes health behavior and reduces weight stigma for weight health.