A Study on Coping with Weight Stigma

jburls23

Hello Fellow MFPs!

Have you experienced real or perceived stereotyping, rejection, or prejudice based on your weight? If so, I am interested in hearing about how you cope with such experiences, as well as your own personal thoughts and beliefs about weight.

My name is Jillian Burley and I am graduate student at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology where I am currently conducting research for my doctoral project. I am writing to request your help. The purpose of my study is to gather information about how individuals cope with weight-related stigmatization. For the purposes of this study, I have created an anonymous online survey in which individuals will be asked to report whether and to what extent they utilize different coping strategies in response to experiences in which they feel stigmatized based on weight. Participants will also be asked to indicate the degree of agreement with weight-based statements about the self.

Although there is no direct benefit from participating in this study, you will be contributing to an important and understudied area of research related to coping with weight stigma. This study may lead to long-term benefits for individuals coping with weight stigmatization as it may help to generate hypotheses about what coping strategies may be most effective or adaptive. In the long run, this may better inform mental health professionals and stigma reduction programs as to how individuals cope with stressful stigmatizing experiences based on weight and thus, increase understanding as to how best to provide appropriate support.

You can participate in this study if:
1. You are 18 years of age or older
2. You live in the United States
3. You identify as slightly overweight, overweight, or extremely overweight


If you meet the above criteria, I invite you to please take 10-15 minutes to complete a brief online survey by clicking on the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J976Y6X

Through your participation, you may enter a raffle to win one of two $50 Visa gift cards by emailing the researcher the code word displayed on the last page of the survey at weightbiasresearch@gmail.com.

I sincerely appreciate your time. If you have any questions or comments about the study, please contact me directly via email.

Sincerely,

Jillian D. Burley, M.A.
Student Researcher & Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology
Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology
weightbiasresearch@gmail.com

Again here's the link to the anonymous online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J976Y6X