ArticleHealth psychology and behavioral medicine2025
Societal constructions of weight stigma against preconception, pregnant, and postpartum women from community members' perspectives: a qualitative story completion study.
Article in Health psychology and behavioral medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Weight stigma involves prejudiced attitudes directed towards larger-bodied people. Preconception, pregnant, and postpartum (PPP) women are particularly vulnerable to weight stigma due to societal expectations and prescriptive norms around women's bodies, along with body weight changes during these periods. However, there is limited understanding of the prevailing societal discourse and constructions driving this phenomenon. Therefore, we aimed to explore community members' perspectives to identify constructions of weight stigma towards PPP women living in larger bodies. Methods: We conducted a qualitative story completion study. Adult community members residing in Australia were invited to complete three story stems. Each story stem featured a larger-bodied preconception, pregnant, or postpartum protagonist and their interaction with their friends, colleagues, or family. The participants were instructed to complete the story by writing the story about what they think, believe, and do, focusing on the treatment experienced by larger-bodied women. The data were analysed using inductive reflexive thematic analysis, informed by social constructionism. Results: Eighteen participants took part and completed 48 stories (mean word count = 272 words, range 94-708). Three overarching constructions were identified: (1) prevailing assumptions about weight stigma in PPP periods; (2) disguising fatphobia pertaining to PPP women as concern for the mother's and child's health; and (3) healthism pertaining to PPP women living in larger bodies. Conclusions: Our study highlights predominant norms and assumptions that drive weight stigma toward PPP women. These insights can inform future research, policy, and health promotion initiatives to identify targeted strategies to address these constructions. Ultimately, such efforts may contribute to creating a society that embraces body diversity and challenges weight stigma, positively impacting the health of PPP women and their children.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.