Grant: Operating Grant

Obesity is regarded as a significant health problem by medical researchers, government policy, and the popular media nationally. Increasingly, health researchers have expressed concern regarding the risks associated with obese women's reproduction, and research is beginning to show that, as a result of these concerns, obese women are routinely denied fertility care. This denial is based in medical research that cites complications for both the woman and her (potential) fetus, including miscarriage, prematurity, and autism. At the same time that health risks have been emphasized by researchers, some scholars have instead focused on the stigma, or discrimination experienced by obese people, and have argued that obesity stigma, too, has negative health effects relating to the high stress levels associated with discrimination. Researchers have also found stigma within the healthcare setting, where preconceived notions about the obese on the part of healthcare workers can lead to misdiagnosis and the denial of care. What is missing from such research, however, is an analysis of obesity stigma within the fertility healthcare setting in particular. Obese women are considered "risks" to both themselves and to their children and, as a result, believed to be "bad mothers"; how does this belief impact the healthcare of obese women attempting to conceive? This research answers this question by interviewing women and their experiences of receiving fertility care, healthcare workers about giving this care, and policy makers about setting guidelines about reproduction and obesity. The study will have 3 sites - Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montreal. In focusing nationally the research will contribute to ethical and effective care in Canada via provincial comparison and collaboration, and to suggest, through the education of health professionals, more ethical ways of approaching obesity in the healthcare encounter.