Understanding weight stigma and current discourses in relation to overweight and obesity on the island of Ireland

Description

Obesity stigma refers to the negative attitudes and beliefs associated with obesity including bias, discrimination, stereotyping and social exclusion. This stigma is pervasive in society with people living with obesity and overweight experiencing stigma across a number of settings including healthcare, education, the workplace, in social settings including sports, the media and in personal relationships. Research shows that there are many physical and mental health consequences of experiencing obesity and overweight stigma. This project aims to explore current discourses on weight stigma (both obesity and overweight) and explore if and how they have changed over the last 15 years in at policy level and in the media, on the island of Ireland. This project is intended to build on the significant volume of published work in this area and the many best practice frameworks and guidelines that have been published. This project is also being commissioned to identify practical approaches to reducing weight stigma in the communications domain. The key objectives of this research project are to: ● Provide up to date evidence on how overweight and obesity are framed in policy documents and in broadcast, non-broadcast and social media on the island of Ireland ● Identify where obesity and overweight feature in public policy and implementation documentation. ● Assess the language used in relation to current standards of best practice in relation to stigma reduction and examine how obesity and overweight are framed. ● To review the impact of best practice frameworks and guidelines on reducing stigma on the discourse and the barriers that remain to fully complying with best practice in avoiding weight related stigma. ● Investigate key stakeholders general understanding and perception of overweight and obesity using qualitative research. These stakeholders include: o Healthcare o Education o Workplace o sporting bodies o policy representatives o media representatives o community representatives o members of the public o patient representatives o people who are living with or caring for, or are a parent of a person living with overweight or obesity ● Propose recommendations on how the relevant best practice guidelines can be improved, used or implemented to reduce weight-related stigma in policy and media on the island of Ireland.