Body Inclusivity: Confronting biases, understanding impact, & addressing weight stigma

Weight stigma is “the social devaluation and denigration of people perceived to carry excess weight and leads to prejudice, negative stereotyping and discrimination toward those people” (Tomiyama). This project will challenge the readily accepted claim that weight equals health.

Introduction: 

Research shows weight stigma is a barrier to seeking health care, obtaining accurate medical diagnoses (Alberga et al., 2018), and engaging in physical activity (Stevens, 2017; Pantel, 2019; Pickett and Cunningham, 2018). Our project goal is to increase awareness of the impacts of weight stigma at UC Davis to improve student experience and support student success through both digital and in-person education. We aim to ensure the UC Davis campus becomes and stays a body inclusive environment through its facilities, messaging and staff/faculty.

Outcomes: 

1. Develop a campus-wide Weight Stigma Learning Management System (LMS) training for all campus staff. 
2. Survey the academic environment to determine which UC Davis classes cover weight-related topics as part of their curriculum.
3. Develop additional Weight Stigma trainings that are more relevant and specific to the work of campus faculty.

Opportunities for Participation:

The project team will be hiring passionate and qualified students for the positions of:

1. Researcher
2. Graphic Designer

Recent Milestones:

Recruitment of the aforementioned positions.

Project Lead:

Kayleigh Rohrbach
Assistant Director, Living Well
Campus Recreation
karohrbach@ucdavis.edu