Attention given to weight control has skyrocketed in recent years, ingraining words like ‘BMI’, ‘obesity epidemic’, and ‘diet’ into our everyday vocabulary. Since the increase of obesity prevention initiatives and campaigns, incidence of weight stigma has also increased. Although it is not socially acceptable to discriminate someone based on their weight; blaming, shaming, and ‘concern trolling’ are very common in all aspects of a person’s with excess weight life, from school to work, from their home to the doctor’s office.

Unfortunately, discrimination based on body size is prevalent in healthcare settings which leads to individuals with obesity being more reluctant to seek medical care, more likely to delay important preventative healthcare services and cancel medical appointments, and showing lower rates of adherence to medication (Amy et al., 2006). At the same time, health providers report inefficient training with regards to weight bias and stigma (Russell-Mayhew, 2016).

The main objectives of the project are to design, develop, and disseminate an innovative training framework and eventually a complete set of training material and tools about weight bias in healthcare settings as well as to make clear that treatment of obesity is more complex than the advice of “eat less-move more”. Also, the project aims to provide participants with the skills and methodological tools so they will be able to promote health without harming. The project is also aspiring to build an international network to co-create, evaluate, and help promote the Breaking Weight Bias training material to the healthcare systems and professionals all over Europe.