“This is what you’re supposed to do”: weight stigma in dietetics education

Dietetics education and practice is rooted in a weight-centric paradigm of health. Research demonstrates that dietetic students and practitioners hold stigmatizing beliefs about fat people. Some have sardonically noted that being thin is taken as evidence of dietitians’ expertise within the profession and in the eyes of the public. In this light, fat dietetic students are likely subject to stigma within their educational environments. However, no studies have explored dietetics students’ experiences of weight stigma during their education. This research draws on qualitative interviews to explore the experience of Canadian dietetics students who self-identified as fat, “higher weight,” “overweight,” or “obese.” An interplay of overt, structurally rooted weight stigma and internalized weight stigma were found to pervade the pedagogical environment of dietetics education. Findings suggest that fat students grapple with their seemingly conflicting identities as fat people and dietetics students, and feel pressure to “perform dietitian.” However, participants also resisted weight stigma, and questioned pressures to conform to the thin body and healthy eating ideals.