Families & Health SIG Meeting: Weight Stigma

April 11th, 2024
Families and Health SIG Meeting
Weight bias, the social devaluation, discrimination, and prejudice towards those perceived to be overweight or obese, is a life-threatening health risk and a prevalent experience for much of the global population. It occurs across multiple settings including the workplace, media, families, and healthcare. When controlling for BMI, weight bias has been separately linked to multiple negative health outcomes including higher BMI, poor metabolic health, increased blood pressure and Hba1c, higher disordered eating, increased sleep disturbances, greater health risk behaviors, and increased depression and anxiety. Collectively, these findings suggest that weight bias is a public health problem distinct from obesity. As primary care and behavioral health providers, it is important to challenge all types of bias and seek to understand how that bias may be impeding patient-centered care. In this presentation, we will discuss the impact of weight bias on health, ways to identify weight bias at the systemic and individual level, and strategies that promote more inclusive and equitable primary care practices for all people across the weight spectrum.
Presenter: Dr. Maggie Smith is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Health in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She completed her PhD in Couple, Marriage, and Family Therapy at Texas Tech University and her medical family therapy internship and postdoctoral fellowship at UT Southwestern. She provides integrated psychotherapy and collaborative care for individuals, couples, and families within the department and residency’s primary care clinics, resident education for family medicine residents and supervision for MFT students. Her research focuses on the role of the family system in biopsychosocial health outcomes related to weight talk, body image, and sexual and gender identity. More specifically, she is passionate about developing family-based interventions to target health disparities for sexual and gender minorities and individuals affected by weight bias. In her free time, you can find her reading, talking incessantly about Taylor Swift, and cheering on her beloved Auburn Tigers (War Eagle!).