University of Leeds experts say health professionals ‘should watch language when discussing body weight’

Health professionals should steer away from using words such as "fat", "chubby" and "extra-large" to avoid upsetting patients when discussing their weight, a new survey has suggested.

An online poll of nearly 3,000 mostly female British adults has indicated that people would prefer the use of the terms "weight", "unhealthy weight" and "overweight".

Read More
University of Leeds ranked as one of the top universities in the world in Times ...

Its findings, from researchers at the University of London and University of Leeds, are being presented at the European and International Congress on Obesity, being held online this week.

Researchers found that adults saw the terms "super obese", "chubby", and "extra-large" as the least favourable for healthcare professionals to use when talking about body weigh (photo: Adobe Stock).Researchers found that adults saw the terms "super obese", "chubby", and "extra-large" as the least favourable for healthcare professionals to use when talking about body weigh (photo: Adobe Stock).
Researchers found that adults saw the terms "super obese", "chubby", and "extra-large" as the least favourable for healthcare professionals to use when talking about body weigh (photo: Adobe Stock).
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Researchers surveyed 2,915 adults online who had an average age of 49, 96% of whom were female.

Respondents had an average Body Mass Index (BMI) of 31.5, which is in the obese range.

The survey also asked participants to rate their emotional response to terms using seven emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, contempt, disgust, surprise and fear.

The Parkinson building, University of Leeds.The Parkinson building, University of Leeds.
The Parkinson building, University of Leeds.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Researchers found that adults saw the terms "super obese", "chubby", and "extra-large" as the least favourable for healthcare professionals to use when talking about body weight.

The strongest feelings of disgust, contempt, and anger were associated with the use of the words "super obese", "chubby", and "fat" respectively.

Parents preferred the use the terms "weight", "unhealthy weight", and "body mass index", while emotions of contempt, anger, and disgust were most frequently reported in response to use of the words "high BMI", "fat", and "super obese" respectively.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Researchers found that overall the most commonly reported emotion associated with all weight-related terminology was sadness.

Dr Stuart William Flint, from the University of Leeds - who led the study, acknowledged that one of the limitations of online research was the high percentage of women in the survey sample.

"It probably tells you more about women's preferences," he said, adding that the research had "a good number of male participants".

He argued that the use of a term like "fat" provoked a similar negative emotional response from both females and males, due to it often reflecting a stigmatising experience, such as bullying in childhood.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Flint added: "The reason that these things are important is because these types of negative emotions we know can translate into becoming a barrier to engaging in health care."

He continued "We know that negative experiences in a health care setting, which may include the use of inappropriate terminology, can reduce somebody's likelihood of seeking health care in the future.

"And of course, we don't want that, we want to support patients as health care professionals and we want to improve the patient practitioner relationship."

He advised health care professionals to "elicit" a patient's preferred terms when discussing their weight, because they may differ from person to person.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He suggested people living with obesity were often treated without "empathy and compassion" in society, with "stereotypes" leading to negative experiences in health care settings.

The study, co-authored by Dr Adrian Brown from University College London, will be submitted to a journal in the next couple of weeks, Dr Flint said.

It has been peer reviewed as part of the International Congress on Obesity but not within an academic journal.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.