Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jan 22:13:19.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2393-13-19.

Weight stigma in maternity care: women's experiences and care providers' attitudes

Kate Mulherin  1 , Yvette D Miller, Fiona Kate Barlow, Phillippa C Diedrichs, Rachel Thompson
Affiliations

Weight stigma in maternity care: women's experiences and care providers' attitudes

Kate Mulherin et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: Weight stigma is pervasive in Western society and in healthcare settings, and has a negative impact on victims' psychological and physical health. In the context of an increasing focus on the management of overweight and obese women during and after pregnancy in research and clinical practice, the current studies aimed to examine the presence of weight stigma in maternity care. Addressing previous limitations in the weight stigma literature, this paper quantitatively explores the presence of weight stigma from both patient and care provider perspectives.

Methods: Study One investigated associations between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and experiences of maternity care from a state-wide, self-reported survey of 627 Australian women who gave birth in 2009. Study Two involved administration of an online survey to 248 Australian pre-service medical and maternity care providers, to investigate their perceptions of, and attitudes towards, providing care for pregnant patients of differing body sizes. Both studies used linear regression analyses.

Results: Women with a higher BMI were more likely to report negative experiences of care during pregnancy and after birth, compared to lower weight women. Pre-service maternity care providers perceived overweight and obese women as having poorer self-management behaviours, and reported less positive attitudes towards caring for overweight or obese pregnant women, than normal-weight pregnant women. Even care providers who reported few weight stigmatising attitudes responded less positively to overweight and obese pregnant women.

Conclusions: Overall, these results provide preliminary evidence that weight stigma is present in maternity care settings in Australia. They suggest a need for further research into the nature and consequences of weight stigma in maternity care, and for the inclusion of strategies to recognise and combat weight stigma in maternity care professionals' training.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Brownell KD, Puhl RM, Schwartz MB, Rudd L, editor. Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences and Remedies. New York: The Guilford Press; 2005.
    1. Puhl RM, Andreyeva T, Brownell KD. Perceptions of weight discrimination: prevelance and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America. Int J Obes. 2008;32:992–1000. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2008.22. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Friedman KE, Riechmann SK, Costanzo PR, Zelli A, Ashmore JA, Musante GJ. Weight stigmatization and ideological beliefs: relation to psychological functioning in obese adults. Obes Res. 2005;13:907–916. doi: 10.1038/oby.2005.105. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Annis NA, Cash TF, Hrabosky JI. Body image and psychosocial differences among stable average weight, currently overweight and formerly overweight women: the role of stigmatising experiences. Body Image. 2004;1:155–167. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2003.12.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Puhl RM, Brownell KD. Confronting and coping with weight stigma: an investigation of overweight and obese adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2006;14:1802–1815. doi: 10.1038/oby.2006.208. - DOI - PubMed