Article

How people think and talk about weight is important because it can
influence their behavior toward people who are overweight. One study has shown
that physical therapists have negative attitudes toward people who are
overweight. However, how this finding translates into clinical practice is not
well understood. Investigating physical therapists' ways of thinking and speaking
about overweight and obesity in the context of their work can provide insight
into this underresearched area. The purpose of this study was to
investigate physical therapists' ways of talking about overweight individuals and
discuss clinical implications. DESIGN: An interpretive qualitative design was
used. METHODS: The research team used discourse analysis, a type of inductive
qualitative methodology, to guide data collection and analysis.
The data came
from 6 focus groups of 4 to 6 physical therapists in Queensland, Australia, who
discussed weight in a physical therapy environment. Participants (N=27)
represented a variety of physical therapy subdisciplines. RESULTS: Data analysis
identified 4 main weight discourses (ways of thinking and speaking about weight).
Participants described patients who are overweight as little affected by stigma
and difficult to treat. Furthermore, participants portrayed weight as having
simple causes and being important in physical therapy. Alternate weight
discourses were less frequent in these data. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated
that some physical therapists' understandings of weight might lead to negative
interactions with patients who are overweight. The findings suggest physical
therapists require more nuanced understandings of: how patients who are
overweight might feel in a physical therapy setting, the complexity of causes of
weight, and possible benefits and disadvantages of introducing weight-management
discussions with patients. Therefore, education should encourage complex
understandings of working with patients of all sizes, including knowledge of
weight stigma.
CI - (c) 2016 American Physical Therapy Association.

Langue : ANGLAIS