eightyseven
Ridiculous.
Today in my Sociology of Health and Aging class, the topic of lecture/discussion happened to be obesity (my professor is a researcher and this happens to be her specific area) and it was used as an example to describe how a health condition can affect various areas of the health spectrum- on physical ability, the aging process (the main focus of my class), on caregivers (though most research shows that being UNDERWEIGHT gives caregivers of older adults more issues), and most interestingly obesity/body weight as it relates to going to the doctor for checkups or preventative screenings.
Apparently the research on the last topic shows that adults who have a BMI of over 30 are less likely to see a doctor for simple unrelated things like flu shots, prostate exams, and the like. My professor posed us the question as to why and here's what I came up with...
I said that I felt it's pretty much a socio-psychological thing. My professor wholeheartedly agreed. She did a wonderful job of presenting the topic as not to be criminalizing big people or anything I was impressed.
Basically, I said that it's been researched that physicians have an obvious bias against fat people because of just general social stigmas, as well as the current popular beliefs in the medical and health communities that pretty much everything can be attributed to excess weight and what not. I even used a personal anecdote or two about how I've always dreaded going to the doctor for a physical. It's like, "Yes... I know I'm fat. I've always been this way, can we move on to how I have perfect hearing?" Also, the first thing that my ENT doctor said when I was having sleep apneas/issues was, "Well, you may want to make some lifestyle changes." Then he looked at my tonsils and completely changed his mind.
Does anyone else feel similarly? That because of your size, you have less desire to go to a doctor for certain things because he/she is going to badger you or keep on talking about your size? What do you think about the research? I'm curious if anyone else has anecdotes/information that I could possibly utilize to better understand what I'm learning in class.
Apparently the research on the last topic shows that adults who have a BMI of over 30 are less likely to see a doctor for simple unrelated things like flu shots, prostate exams, and the like. My professor posed us the question as to why and here's what I came up with...
I said that I felt it's pretty much a socio-psychological thing. My professor wholeheartedly agreed. She did a wonderful job of presenting the topic as not to be criminalizing big people or anything I was impressed.
Basically, I said that it's been researched that physicians have an obvious bias against fat people because of just general social stigmas, as well as the current popular beliefs in the medical and health communities that pretty much everything can be attributed to excess weight and what not. I even used a personal anecdote or two about how I've always dreaded going to the doctor for a physical. It's like, "Yes... I know I'm fat. I've always been this way, can we move on to how I have perfect hearing?" Also, the first thing that my ENT doctor said when I was having sleep apneas/issues was, "Well, you may want to make some lifestyle changes." Then he looked at my tonsils and completely changed his mind.
Does anyone else feel similarly? That because of your size, you have less desire to go to a doctor for certain things because he/she is going to badger you or keep on talking about your size? What do you think about the research? I'm curious if anyone else has anecdotes/information that I could possibly utilize to better understand what I'm learning in class.
