4 - (SYM 20) Addressing Internalized Weight Stigma in Group Psychotherapy: Central Principles and Preliminary Effectiveness

A growing body of research demonstrates the noxious impacts of weight stigma on a variety of health-related outcomes including increased mental and physical health difficulties, worse medical care for individuals in large bodies, and healthcare avoidance (e.g., Mensinger et al., 2018; Wu & Berry, 2018). Some work has begun to examine group interventions aimed at addressing internalized weight stigma given its negative impact, but, notably, most of this work has been done in the context of either provider education or weight loss interventions (e.g., Alleva et al., 2021; Pearl et al., 2020). The current presentation will provide an overview of We Deserve Space, a weight-affirming group psychotherapy intervention for internalized weight stigma piloted in two different contexts (partial hospitalization eating disorder program and virtual counselor-facilitated psychoeducational support group). This intervention is specifically for individuals who are currently or have previously been in large bodies.

In addition to describing the intervention across the two settings, we will present preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of the ten-session, closed, virtual psychoeducational group (N = 17). Baseline and post-intervention data were collected regarding internalized weight stigma, anti-fat attitudes, depressive symptoms, belongingness, loneliness, and eating disorder functional impairment. Preliminary findings illustrate the groups’ promise as an intervention that is associated with meaningful changes with medium to large effect sizes in a  small sample from pre- to post-intervention as follows: internalized weight stigma (t (10) = 2.14, p = .058, d = .64), anti-fat attitudes (t (12) = 1.82, p = .095, d = .50), depressive symptoms ((t (11) = 2.30, p = .042, d = .66), belongingness (t (11) = -3.67, p = .003, d = -1.02), loneliness (t (11) = 1.63, p = .132, d =.47), and eating disorder functional impairment (t (9) = 2.14, p = .061, d = .68). Future directions of interventions aimed at addressing weight stigma and ameliorating its negative impacts on individuals in large bodies across clinical contexts will be discussed.