Training for weight-inclusive healthcare
Weight discrimination is endemic in healthcare.
Around 63% of UK adults report have experienced weight-based stigma from a doctor (Puhl et al. 2021).
This discrimination manifests in a variety of ways including inaccessible equipment, weight thresholds for referrals or treatment, and stigmatising comments made by practitioners.
In most cases weight discrimination is unconscious but it has serious consequences. Even just anticipating weight discrimination raises cortisol levels and activates stress pathways linked to adverse metabolic outcomes (Tomiyama 2014). It contributes to weight cycling disordered eating, and long-term weight gain as well as depression and poor mental health. Patients who experience or anticipate weight discrimination delay seeking medical support, miss appointments and are become nonadherent to medicines regimes, compounding health issues.
We offer specialist workshops and e-learning training for healthcare practitioners to recognise and address weight discrimination. We have trained doctors, nurses, midwives, occupational therapists and others.
Our training products
We deliver our training in a range of formats, flexible to your needs and priorities. We offer e-learning modules, workshops that can be held online or in-person, and bespoke content and add-ons which can co-develop with you.
We offer reduced-price packages for whole-organisation content or multiple e-learning licences.
-
Eqweighty Training are currently developing e-learning modules which will be available from mid-2026. Our core e-learning module, ‘Weight Discrimination in Healthcare’, is informed by the latest research and best practice in the field. It is designed to provide a broad understanding of weight discrimination in healthcare, through the use of case studies and directed activities which encourage users to reflect on their own practice and to test their acquired knowledge.
In addition to our core e-learning module, we are developing specialist e-learning modules for nurses and midwives. This will also be launched in mid-2026.
-
We run two-hour workshops which can be held online or in-person. Each workshop is facilitated by a member of the Eqweighty Training team and can accommodate between 5-30 people. Our workshops are interactive with activities that support self-reflection and discussion. There are lots of opportunities to engage with case studies and lived experiences. Our workshops provide you with real world strategies to address unconscious weight discrimination that you can use right away in your own practice.
-
Eqweighty Training offers bespoke workshops which tailor our training to your specific needs, priorities and budgets. Please contact us to see what we can do for you.
-
Eqweighty Training offers reduced-rate packages for NHS Trusts, Councils or groups who wish to purchase multiple training products. Please contact us for further information.