"What can her body do?" Reducing weight stigma by appreciating another person's body functionality

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Health Psychology

Background:

• Weight stigma is widespread and detrimental to psychological and physical health.
• Existing weight stigma reduction strategies have limited effectiveness.
• Research on novel interventions to combat weight stigma is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate a new intervention for reducing weight stigma.
• To test if a writing exercise on body functionality decreases weight stigma.

Main Methods:

• 98 women were randomly assigned to write about a higher-weight woman's body functionality or her home.
• Participants completed pretest and posttest assessments of weight stigma facets.
• The study was pre-registered.

Main Results:

• The body functionality writing group showed increased fat acceptance and social closeness.
• No significant differences were observed in attribution complexity, responsibility, or likeability.
• The intervention partially reduced weight stigma.

Conclusions:

• A brief, functionality-focused writing intervention can reduce specific aspects of weight stigma.
• This approach shows potential for future weight stigma reduction strategies.
• Further research is warranted to explore the full impact of functionality-based interventions.