Abstract
<p>The purpose of this work was to explore the effectiveness of an educational intervention aimed at reducing weight bias. Senior fashion students (<em>n</em><em> </em>= 11) enrolled in a 16 week special topics course, “plus-size swimwear design”, completed assignments of selected obesity related educational readings and guided critical reflection. Student assignments were analyzed for qualitative evidence regarding weight bias. The Beliefs About Obese Persons scale was administered before and after the intervention with mean scores tested for statistical significance. The intervention increased student perceptions that genetic and environmental factors play an important role in the cause of obesity and decreased students’ negative stereotypes regarding obese consumers. Educational reading and critical reflection was effective in improving fashion students’ beliefs and stereotypes regarding obese people. This widely accessible and easily replicable program can serve as a model and springboard for further development of educational interventions to reduce weight bias among fashion related students.</p>
Highlights
American companies are faced with a growing number of obese consumers
Higher mean impact scores indicate a greater belief that obesity is driven by genetic and environmental causes, whereas lower means indicate the belief a person is obese is due to lack of will power
A 16 week intervention, as part of a case study involving a plus-size consumer, with reading and reflection was associated with a significant decrease in bias towards obese people
Summary
American companies are faced with a growing number of obese consumers. A major challenge facing fashion educators today is to adequately train future designers and merchandisers to develop apparel for overweight and obese body shapes. Many apparel design and merchandising students harbor negative beliefs and stereotypes regarding obese people, which may lead to negative attitudes and behaviors and a potential lack of desire to serve the obese demographic (Christel, 2015; Rudd, Harmon, Heiss, & Buckworth, 2015). Plus-size women continually report experiencing frustration when clothes shopping and often feel discriminated against by store clerks (Gruys, 2012; Neumark-Sztainer, Story, & Faibisch, 1998). This bias and limited selection in clothing primes obese women toward feeling ostracized and excluded from the fashion world (Gruys, 2012). The author looked at weight bias and weight bias interventions with college students studying in various disciplines including medical, nursing, apparel design and merchandising
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