Hopefully, your doctor is both helpful and supportive. But many women aren’t so lucky and often leave the doctor’s office feeling judged. Not only does it feel bad to be guilt-tripped, but it may also backfire: Overweight patients are actually less likely to lose weight if they feel their doctors are passing judgment on them, according to new research from healthcare brand Juniper.
For the study, researchers surveyed 1,000 Australian women aged 35 – 65 years and found that over half (52%) of Australian women, are reluctant to involve or seek assistance from a health care professional for their weight management due to fear of judgement and the perception that their weight is something they must manage on their own. In turn, this deters 79% of women from seeking medical advice for not only their weight, but other health areas of concern.
“Being overweight is a legitimate medical condition – and needs to be treated as one by both health professionals and patients. The perception of feeling judged is a real problem. We need to remove the stigma around talking about weight management and remove any perceived barriers to receiving medical advice to assist. Currently, it takes an individual around nine years to act on seeing a health care professional for weight loss in Australia,” explains Endocrinologist Dr Ramy Bishay.
“Fear of judgment is hyper-apparent and women are often time poor, caring for multiple family members and place their needs well below others. Our Juniper research has found that Australian women have been reluctant to involve their GP in their weight management consultations for a few different reasons including, fear of judgement, having to step on the scales in the consult room, the erroneous belief that all a GP can do is offer basic diet/exercise advice, or the belief that it’s something they should be able to manage on their own. However, up to 80% of weight gain is determined by your genes, which is why diets and exercise don’t always work. Health professionals are here to help, and women shouldn’t feel like they can’t engage us in their weight loss journey – there’s a lot we can do to assist them.”
That’s a healthcare crisis in and of itself: A good doctor-patient rapport is linked with better health outcomes (like weight loss), and people who like their doctors and feel no judgment are more likely to keep coming back.
“I see about 120 patients per week, and many of these patients come to commence weight loss management. My experience, which is also reflective of studies in the area, is that people have no idea where to turn to for help, and they have a sense of frustration and hopelessness. Then on the flip side, I see a lot of patients who know they need to speak to a health care professional about their weight but have put off an appointment because they have been too nervous to speak to anyone for fear of being judgement,” adds Dr. Bishay. “It takes two to solve this issue – health professional and patient. To our well-meaning, hard-working GPs – please ask about your patient’s weight (with permission, of course) and get upskilled in weight management. This is the golden era of weight management with lots of new, highly effective treatments available. Patients need to know this exists.”
