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
. 2024 Jan 2;13(1):1.
doi: 10.1186/s13584-023-00587-4.

Weight stigma in healthcare settings: the experience of Arab and Jewish bariatric surgery candidates in Israel

Affiliations

Weight stigma in healthcare settings: the experience of Arab and Jewish bariatric surgery candidates in Israel

Yara Zahra-Zeitoun et al. Isr J Health Policy Res. .

Abstract

Background: Weight-related stigma and discrimination are prevalent in our society with adverse biopsychosocial outcomes to people with obesity and morbid obesity. Studies suggest that weight bias in healthcare settings are quite prevalent, but there have been, as far as we know, lack of studies examining prevalence and correlates of weight bias experiences among bariatric surgery candidates in Israel. We aim to understand the nature and prevalence of weight stigma among bariatric surgery candidates. To identify differences between Jewish and Arab candidates. To examine the impact of weight stigma experiences on weight bias internalization (WBI).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among 117 adult bariatric surgery candidates from three hospitals in northern Israel (47.8% Jews, 82.4% females, average BMI 42.4 ± 5.2 Kg/meter2). Patients who agreed to participate completed a structured questionnaire on the same day that the bariatric surgery committee met. WBI was measured using a validated 10-item scale. Experiences of weight stigma were measured using items adapted from prior international studies.

Results: About two thirds of the participants had at least one experience of weight stigma (teased, treated unfairly, or discriminated against because of their weight). As many as 75% of participants reported that weight served as a barrier to getting appropriate health care and as many as half of participants felt in the last year that a doctor judged them because of their weight. No significant differences were found between Arabs and Jews in the prevalence of weight stigma experiences and WBI. However, a trend towards more stigma experiences among Jews was noted. WBI was predicted by female gender and experiences of weight stigma, both in general and within healthcare settings.

Conclusions: Weight stigma towards bariatric surgery candidates in Israel is quite prevalent, and specifically in healthcare settings. It is important to adopt policy actions and intervention programs to improve awareness to this phenomenon among the general public and specifically among healthcare providers, as many healthcare providers may be unaware of the adverse effect of weight stigma and of ways in which they are contributing to the problem. Future studies may validate our findings using larger sample size and longitudinal design.

Keywords: Bariatric surgery; Health settings; Internalization; Obesity; Stigma; Weight bias.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. World Health Organization. Obesity and overweight World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight. Apr 1 (2020).
    1. Arbel Y, Fialkoff C, Kerner A, Kerner M. Nutrition, age, medical literacy and gender: the impact of ethnic origin (Arabs vs. Jewish Israelis) on obesity. Clin Nutr Open Sci. 2021;38:43–58. doi: 10.1016/j.nutos.2021.06.001. - DOI
    1. Sakran N, et al. The impact of ethnic differences between Israeli-Jews and Israeli-Arabs on post-bariatric surgery weight loss: a prospective cohort analysis. Obes Surg. 2021;31:1882–1886. doi: 10.1007/s11695-020-05072-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kalter-Leibovici O, et al. Obesity among Arabs and Jews in Israel: a population-based study. Israel Med Assoc J. 2007;9:525–530. - PubMed
    1. Arbel Y, Fialkoff C, Kerner A. The cause and effect problem: Is there mutual obesity among Arab Israeli couples? PLoS ONE. 2020;15:e0240034. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240034. - DOI - PMC - PubMed