What it Means to Call Your Patient Obese: The Impact of Communicating Weight Stigma in Patient-Provider Conversations.

Abstract

Perceived weight stigma has been shown to have serious consequences in healthcare, including poorer mental health, physical health, and other social injustices for overweight individuals. However, the full impact of stigmatized language use (like "obese") in patient-provider interactions remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted an online experiment (N = 501) in the US to examine the effects of stigmatized language use in conversations with healthcare providers, including on patients' perceptions of themselves as well as their healthcare experience. Results show that stigmatized conversation about weight initiated by healthcare providers results in higher weight self-stigma among patients, failing to increase their desire to lose weight (likely a goal of providers via these interactions). Additionally, patients exposed to stigmatized conversation experience decreased patient-centered communication, lower trust in healthcare providers, decreased quality of healthcare, and decreased satisfaction with their healthcare providers. Furthermore, this study found some support for the moderating effect of narrative transportation and perceived body size on some of the outcomes. Hence, in healthcare practice, our results suggest that healthcare providers should reduce their use of stigmatized language when discussing weight with their patients as a way to improve weight self-stigma among patients as well as patient-centered communication and related outcomes.