Hello EASO Community! My name is Paige Crompvoets, a Dutch researcher currently pursuing my PhD on person-centred care for individuals living with obesity. The project is a collaboration between the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management and the Erasmus Medical Centre, both based in Rotterdam in The Netherlands. The ultimate goal of the project is to contribute to improving the healthcare experiences of patients living with obesity.
Obesity is accompanied by a significant stigma. In our recent study, we delved into the pervasive issue of weight stigma within healthcare settings by examining the experiences of 590 patients living with obesity in the Netherlands.
Particularly alarming were reports from patients with a BMI ≥ 40, revealing that 25% of patients had experienced cruel remarks, ridicule, or name calling from healthcare professionals. 35% of patients reported instances where they felt treated as lazy and less competent during their interactions with healthcare professionals. Experiences with inadequate facilities were also frequent, with a third of patients encountering inadequately sized seating in the waiting room.
Our findings also uncovered frequent experiences of unsolicited weight loss advice and recommendations that were not aligned with patients’ preferences or needs. These issues spanned across all obesity classes. For example, patients were often told to lose weight without being offered the necessary support or guidance on treatment options. Similarly, many received uninvited suggestions for diets. Although such recommendations can be well-intended, they tend to stem from oversimplified assumptions about obesity and fall short of addressing the unique needs of individual patients.
Another important insight was that these experiences were related to lower ratings of person-centred care, which stresses the profound impact of weight stigma on these patients’ healthcare experiences. For a comprehensive overview of our findings, please refer to our published article available as a free full text at this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.13954
Our upcoming studies focus on exploring the potential of person-centred care to improve the healthcare experiences of patients living with obesity. For instance, we are looking into the relationship between person-centred care and important patient outcomes, such as satisfaction with care and levels of physical and social well-being, using the Social Production Function Instrument for the Level of well-being. Additionally, we are validating an instrument to measure the various dimensions of person-centred care in this patient group, which may help care providers and organizations to identify areas of improvement. Furthermore, this tool will be made accessible for use by fellow researchers, providing valuable insights into patient experiences with person-centered care.
If you are interested in collaborating or finding out more about this work, please find contact details here: https://www.eur.nl/people/paige-indiana-crompvoets