Contemporary issues: Teaching students about maternal obesity without creating obesity stigma

The management of obesity in pregnancy is high on the public health agenda and is identified as one of the greatest current issues facing midwifery (Royal College of Midwives, 2013). Having a maternity care workforce skilled in providing optimal, person-centred care to women with obesity is of national and international concern. What is less certain however is how well this public health priority is currently being taught to student midwives. Keyworth and colleagues (2013), present unsettling evidence in this journal showing that student nurses, for example, not only hold negative but discriminatory attitudes towards patients diagnosed as having obesity; these students tended to see obesity as evidence of lack of self-control.
Source: Nurse Education Today - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Contemporary Issues Source Type: research