1 Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T3C 0T1, Canada. snutter@ucalgary.ca.
2 Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T3C 0T1, Canada.
3 Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Applied Physiology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada.
4 Libraries and Cultural Resources, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T3C 0T1, Canada.

Weight Bias in Educational Settings: a Systematic Review.

Curr Obes Rep. 2019 Jun;8(2):185-200

Authors: Nutter S, Ireland A, Alberga AS, Brun I, Lefebvre D, Hayden KA, Russell-Mayhew S

Abstract

PURPOSE: To conduct a systematic literature review of empirical peer-reviewed published studies on the prevalence of weight bias among students, pre-service, and in-service teachers and its impact on the educational experiences and health of students from kindergarten to postsecondary settings.

METHODS: Keywords were searched on three main concepts, (i) weight bias/stigma, (ii) obesity/overweight, and (iii) education, within eight databases. Our search yielded 8323 individual records, of which 45 studies satisfied our inclusion criteria.

RESULTS: Most studies were conducted in K-12 school settings (n?=?41), were quantitative in design (n?=?37), and used student samples (n?=?18). Weight bias is prevalent in educational settings, among peers at school as well as pre-service and in-service teachers, and negatively impacts students' health and educational experiences.

CONCLUSION: These results highlighted the impact of weight bias in creating inequity for students with obesity as well as several underexamined areas, such as weight bias in postsecondary settings and attitudes among teachers and pre-service teachers. Innovative strategies to address weight bias in educational settings are needed.

PMID: 30820842 [PubMed - in process]