Discrimination based on body shape and size remains commonplace in today's society. This important volume explores the nature, causes, and consequences of weight bias and presents a range of approaches to combat it. Leading psychologists, health professionals, attorneys, and advocates cover such critical topics as the barriers facing obese adults and children in health care, work, and school settings; how to conceptualize and measure weight-related stigmatization; theories on how stigma develops; the impact on self-esteem and health, quite apart from the physiological effects of obesity; and strategies for reducing prejudice and bringing about systemic change.
Broad and international in scope, Advanced Focus Group Research introduces a conceptual framework that can help researchers make informed decisions about how to plan and implement a focus group research project.
The leading clinical reference work in the field--now significantly revised with 85% new material--this handbook has given thousands of practitioners and students a comprehensive understanding of the causes, consequences, and management of adult and childhood obesity. In concise, extensively referenced chapters from preeminent authorities, the Handbook presents foundational knowledge and reviews the state of the science of evidence-based psychosocial and lifestyle interventions as well as pharmacological and surgical treatments. It provides guidelines for conducting psychosocial and medical assessments and for developing individualized treatment plans. The effects of obesity--and of weight loss--on physical and psychological well-being are reviewed, as are strategies for helping patients maintain their weight loss. New to This Edition *Many new authors and topics; extensively revised and expanded with over 15 years of research and clinical advances, including breakthroughs in understanding the biological regulation of appetite and body weight. *Section on contributors to obesity, with new chapters on food choices, physical activity, sleep, and psychosocial and environmental factors. *Chapters on novel treatments for adults--acceptance and commitment therapy, motivational interviewing, digitally based interventions, behavioral economics, community-based programs, and nonsurgical devices. *Chapters on novel treatments for children and adolescents--school-based preventive interventions, pharmacological treatment, and bariatric surgery. *Chapters on the gut microbiome, the emerging field of obesity medicine, reimbursement for weight loss therapies, and managing co-occurring eating disorders and obesity.
Childhood obesity is a serious health problem that has adverse and long-lasting consequences for individuals, families, and communities. The magnitude of the problem has increased dramatically during the last three decades and, despite some indications of a plateau in this growth, the numbers remain stubbornly high. Efforts to prevent childhood obesity to date have focused largely on school-aged children, with relatively little attention to children under age 5. However, there is a growing awareness that efforts to prevent childhood obesity must begin before children ever enter the school system. Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies reviews factors related to overweight and obese children from birth to age 5, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior, and recommends policies that can alter children's environments to promote the maintenance of healthy weight. Because the first years of life are important to health and well-being throughout the life span, preventing obesity in infants and young children can contribute to reversing the epidemic of obesity in children and adults. The book recommends that health care providers make parents aware of their child's excess weight early. It also suggests that parents and child care providers keep children active throughout the day, provide them with healthy diets, limit screen time, and ensure children get adequate sleep. In addition to providing comprehensive solutions to tackle the problem of obesity in infants and young children, Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies identifies potential actions that could be taken to implement those recommendations. The recommendations can inform the decisions of state and local child care regulators, child care providers, health care providers, directors of federal and local child care and nutrition programs, and government officials at all levels.
This groundbreaking two-volume set examines the psychological, social, physical, and environmental factors that undermine or support healthy development in African American children while considering economic, historical, and public policies. How does one go about shifting the psychology of a people whose sense of worth, purpose, and potential have been denigrated and disenfranchised for decades? What specific factors conspire to douse African American children's dreams before they reach adolescence? And what can we learn from African American families determined to help their children beat the odds and succeed? This unique two-volume set examines the forces affecting psychological development and achievement motivation in African American children today. These books address the current political, global, economic, and social contexts as they impact African American families and tackle the tough issues of genes, environment, and race. Experts from leading universities, research institutes, federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations discuss factors such as parenting beliefs and practices, peer influences, school and community environments, racial profiling, race and ethnicity, spirituality, and immigrant status.
Stigma leads to poorer health. In The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health, leading scholars identify stigma mechanisms that operate at multiple levels to erode the health of stigmatized individuals and, collectively, produce health disparities. This book provides unique insights concerning the link between stigma and health across various types of stigma and groups.
Older Americans, even the oldest, can now expect to live years longer than those who reached the same ages even a few decades ago. Although survival has improved for all racial and ethnic groups, strong differences persist, both in life expectancy and in the causes of disability and death at older ages. This book examines trends in mortality rates and selected causes of disability (cardiovascular disease, dementia) for older people of different racial and ethnic groups. The determinants of these trends and differences are also investigated, including differences in access to health care and experiences in early life, diet, health behaviors, genetic background, social class, wealth and income. Groups often neglected in analyses of national data, such as the elderly Hispanic and Asian Americans of different origin and immigrant generations, are compared. The volume provides understanding of research bearing on the health status and survival of the fastest-growing segment of the American population.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Comprehensive in scope and meticulously researched, Handbook of Obesity Prevention analyzes the intricate causes of this public health crisis, and sets out concrete, multilevel strategies for meeting it head-on. This innovative handbook clearly defines obesity in clinical, epidemiologic, and financial terms, and offers guidelines for planning and implementing programs and evaluating results. This systematic approach to large-scale social and policy change gives all parties involved—from individual practitioners to multinational corporations—the tools to set and attain realistic goals based on solid evidence and best practice in public health. A sample of topics covered: The individual: risk factors and prevention across the lifespan, specific populations (pregnant women, ethnic and regional groups). Levers for change in schools and workplaces. Community settings: role of the physical environment. "De-marketing" obesity: food industries and the media. Grassroots action: consumers and communities. The global obesity epidemic: rapid developments, potential solutions. From obesity prevention to health promotion: the future of the field. Its level of detail and wide range of topics make the Handbook of Obesity Prevention a bedrock sourcebook, overview, reference, or teaching text. Read by topic or cover to cover, here is accurate, up-to-date information for professionals and students in all areas of public health.
