Women's perception of how weight stigma and prejudice affect the sexual and reproductive rights

• Grant number: 24/01932-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: July 01, 2024 - June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Arlete Maria dos Santos Fernandes
• Grantee: Arlete Maria dos Santos Fernandes
• Host Institution: Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde da Mulher (CAISM). Hospital da Mulher Professor Doutor José Aristodemo Pinotti. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Maria José Martins Duarte Osis

Abstract

Obesity is an issue that, in the field of health and public policies, has gained prominence in recent decades. However, discussions have focused on preventing and treating obesity from an individualized approach and without considering socioeconomic and political conditions. Women living with obesity may face several barriers to accessing health services if it is limited, biased, and stigmatized based on weight. This increases the risks inherent to their gender status and, in some cases, inherent to mobility difficulties due to body weight. This situation, therefore, can affect the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights (RSD) and the health of these women in general. Although access to health services is necessary to prevent or reduce complications linked to any chronic disease, access and services should be evidence-based, free of stigma and prejudice, and promote the exercise of rights. The objective is to know the perception of women with high weight about how bias and stigma of weight affect the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights. A qualitative study will be conducted through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with women. The sample will be purposeful, and the criterion of information saturation will define the number of participants. The participants of this study will be invited among the women who attend the Family Planning Outpatient Clinic of CAISM/UNICAMP. Those who agree to participate and meet the inclusion criteria will comprise the sample of women in this research. The first contact will be established with one of the professionals who provide care at the Outpatient Clinic, which provides sexual and reproductive health services of family planning, in order to facilitate the contact and invitation of the women to participate in the study. The interviews and focus groups will be held at the Family Planning Outpatient Clinic, CAISM/FCM/UNICAMP and will be recorded and transcribed, and a thematic analysis of their content will be performed. The interpretation of the results will be based on the references of sociological, interpretive, and phenomenological theories focusing on gender. (AU)