UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

Visiting your doctor can sometimes be difficult or uncomfortable when you have a high body weight. Discussing your concerns with your doctor can help him or her learn how to make your visits more comfortable and productive. You may find it useful to answer the following questions, and then give this sheet to your doctor at your next appointment.

What should you do if you feel that you have been treated unfairly because of your weight by a doctor, nurse, or other health care provider? If you have experienced inappropriate negative attitudes, verbal comments, or other unfair actions due to your weight by a health care provider, there are several options to consider.

This handout includes validated measures used to assess weight bias, which may be used for self-assessment or in group training sessions to initiate discussions about weight bias in clinical practice. This is not an exhaustive list.

This handout for healthcare providers goes through certain patient-provider scenarios and how to have appropriate conversations to address your patient’s experiences.

It can be difficult to know what to do as a parent if your child is being teased or bullied because of his or her weight. Many parents feel so badly for their child that they either avoid discussing the issue or they become overprotective. Before talking to your child, it can be helpful to acknowledge how uncomfortable and difficult it can be for you as a parent to address this issue. Despite the difficulty of the situation, parents need to talk to their child about the problem. This handout provides tips to do so.

Many of the negative stereotypes about people with high body weight stem from myths surrounding body weight and weight loss. The first step to discussing weight bias in a way that is fruitful is knowing how to successfully identify and dispel these myths. This handout contains common weight bias myths and how to respond to them.

This handout identifies common bullying experiences people go through and what you can do if you are being bullied because of your weight.

Weight bullying or teasing happens to a lot of people in many different places – in school, at home, through social media, and even between friends. Just because it happens a lot doesn’t mean it’s right. In fact, weight-related bullying is wrong. This handout helps teenagers identify if they are being bullied because of their weight and what they can do about it.

This handout includes a variety of web resources pertaining to weight bias for kids and teens, parents, teachers and school administrators, and employers.

If you have experienced inappropriate negative attitudes, verbal comments, or other unfair actions due to your weight by someone in your workplace, this handout provides several options to consider.