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Weight bias and stigma exist in a variety of realms in our society (media, education, employment, and health care), and unfortunately many view it as a socially acceptable form of discrimination. Patients with obesity often avoid scheduling appointments for health promotion visits and routine care due to perceived weight bias and stigma from their health care provider. Within the health care setting, it is important that health care providers strategically focus on reducing obesity bias and provide high-quality obesity management. People-first language should be used and waiting rooms and examination rooms should be accommodating to people of all sizes.

ispartof: Verslagen & Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal en Letteren vol:131 issue:2 pages:167-195 status: published

Writing or dictating a report on a developmental diagnosis requires awareness of appropriate language. Development is a story that unfolds over time, and we need to figure out a way to tell that story and write an impression section that is more than an ICD-10 code. We need to say what we think but also why we think it. Reports should use People First language and no longer use the term “mental retardation.” We should report on the strengths of the child and the family; everyone has some. We should put in writing the next steps that family can or should take to get help for their child.

This survey study evaluates responses to people-first language and terms for describing a body mass index of 40 or more among patients seeking bariatric surgery and explores patients’ receptivity to discussing weight stigma in weight management.

OBJECTIVES: Weight-related stigmatization is pervasive in American society with health and social consequences. The public increasingly gets news online and it can influence how they understand health issues, including obesity. Online media has a wide reach and can perpetuate the social acceptability of weight stigma through language and visual content. To combat weight bias, experts recommend the use of People-First Language (PFL) and avoidance of stigmatizing images by the media. Research has not yet analyzed the use of weight-related PFL or images in online coverage of any presidential physical exam. Our first objective was to determine the prevalence of PFL in online news coverage of the 2018 presidential physical exam. Our second objective was to examine the images that accompanied the online coverage. METHODS: Google search engine was used to identify all US based online news articles that covered the physical exam between December 7, 2017 and February 17, 2018. Articles meeting inclusion criteria were coded for the presence of weight-related language keywords and use of PFL. We then performed a content analysis on the images that accompanied the online news articles. Four coders systematically reviewed the visual content to capture images that may be stigmatizing. Simple descriptive statistics were used to summarize data. RESULTS: Exactly 1242 articles were obtained based on keyword searches and 376 met inclusion criteria. After excluding duplicates, 179 articles were included in the final analysis. Use of PFL was observed in 2% (4 of 179 articles) of coverage. Use of the adjective “obese” occurred in 44% of coverage, the condition “obesity” in 19% of coverage and “overweight” in 37% of coverage. About 28% (64 of 227) of images portrayed the president as exercising, but of those, 84% (54 of 64) were portrayed in a stigmatizing way. Of 227 photographs of the president accompanying the online news coverage, 37% (83 of 227) were portrayed in a negative and stigmatizing manner. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of weight-related PFL was low and use of stigmatizing images was noticeable. Exercise should display positive characteristics in an image. However, in our study it was counterintuitively used for stigmatizing portrayals. Future research should identify factors surrounding the lack of PFL and use of stigmatizing images by online news media. FUNDING SOURCES: LJ received funding from the U.S. Dept. of Education HSI STEM grant.

Patient letters provide a permanent record of the genetic counseling that was provided and are unique in medical care; rarely do other health care providers send summaries written specifically to their patients and families. We surveyed genetic counseling training program directors and found that while the acquisition of patient letter-writing skills was considered important, there were no specific guidelines made available to students. To develop letter-writing guidelines, we evaluated patient letters, reviewed references on professional correspondence, surveyed the medical literature, and worked with a writing consultant. The guidelines we subsequently developed and present here include a format for writing patient letters, suggestions on presenting medical information in understandable terms, and wording considerations. These patient letter-writing guidelines are intended to serve as a guide for teaching students this important skill and as a resource for practicing health care professionals.

The effects of people-first language usage and demographic variables on beliefs, attitudes and behavioral intentions toward people with disabilities were investigated. Participants included 351 undergraduate minors, masters, and doctoral level students in counseling psychology at a state university located in the Midwest. Study participants provided demographic information, produced a writing sample concerning a hypothetical client who has a disability, and completed the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATOP) and the Beliefs and Behavioral Intentions Scale (BABI). The BABI examined beliefs and behavioral intentions across three dimensions; sexuality, quality of life potential, and professional personal social distance. Analysis of the writing samples indicated that only a minority of participants used people-first language consistently. A series of ANOVAs were conducted comparing people-first language usage and scores on both the ATOP and BABI scales. Although the results were mixed, language usage appears to affect the attitude and behavioral intentions towards persons with disabilities.

Dans cet article, nous examinons la notion d'incapacite telle qu'elle est creee et vehiculee par le langage qui privilegie la « personne avant tout » Nous nous penchons en premier lieu sur la formulation tres repandue, qui consiste a designer les personnes handicapees comme des « personnes comme les autres ». En second lieu, nous etudions l'ideolo-gie actuelle, qui met l'accent sur le fait que les personnes handicapees sont simplement des « personnes avec des handicaps », dans l'une de ses manifestations les plus concretes, c'est-a-dire un document recent du gouvernement intituleAl'unisson: Une approche canadienne con-cernant les personnes handicapees. En partant du concept de Dorothy Smith, selon lequel le langage constitue l'organisation sociale, nous demontrons la facon dont l'incapacite est medicalisee et individualisee dans ce document, et, par la, la maniere dont l'incapacite prend la forme d'une limitation anormale et d'une insuffisance fonctionnelle que certaines personnes, quatre millions de Canadiens en l'occurrence, «eprouveraient ». Enfin, nous concluons que le langage qui privilegie la personne avant tout se comprend dans le cadre d'un processus continu ou l'incapacite n'est plus percue comme un phenomene social et, par consequent, complexe sur le plan politique. This paper examines the representation of disability that is generated by, and supports, “people-first language.” The paper first describes the ubiquitous formulation of disabled people as “just people.” Second, the current ideology that stresses that disabled people are simply “people with disabilities” is examined in one of its concrete manifestations: a recent government document entitled In Unison: A Canadian Approach to Disability Issues. By making use of Dorothy Smith's concept that language is social organization, the author shows how disability is organized in this document as a medicalized and individual matter and, as such, takes shape as abnormal limitation and lack of function that some people-four million Canadians-“just happen to have.” Finally, the paper concludes that people-first language is best understood as part of an ongoing process that removes the possibility of understanding disability as a social, and thereby complex, political phenomenon. How we are seen determines in part how we are treated; how we treat others is based on how we see them; such seeing comes from representation — Dyer, 1993: 1

Dr. William Dietz is correct in pointing out that our support for people-first language in Obesity has been more a case of “talking the talk” than “walking the walk.” We thank Dr. Dietz for bringing this important issue to our attention. We will institute the following changes in our policies for both potential authors and accepted manuscripts. First, we will amend our Author Guidelines, Submission Checklist, and Ethical Policies documents to inform authors of our support for people-first language, including our position that "obese” should not be used to describe individuals or groups of individuals. Second, our editorial team will work with authors to change “obese” as an adjective to terms such as “people with obesity” and “populations with obesity.” Such changes will take time and will need careful consideration from both the editorial team and the authors in order to “walk the walk.”

(1998). People First Language in Middle and High Schools: Usability and Readability. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas: Vol. 72, No. 2, pp. 115-117.