New initiative in a Queensland hospital hopes to stop weight discrimination in maternity care

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A new initiative from a Queensland hospital hopes to bring an end to weight discrimination in maternity care. Some expectant mothers say comments about their weight from doctors and nurses has caused unnecessary stress and trauma, during an already emotional time.

Transcript

00:00Emily Chamberlain is a proud mum to her two-year-old son Levi but during her

00:09pregnancy constant comments about her weight from doctors and nurses took their

00:13toll. I remember crying to my husband and saying I feel safer giving birth in

00:17our back paddock in the middle of winter than I do going to hospital. Living in

00:21regional Queensland Miss Chamberlain saw a different clinician for every

00:25maternity milestone and says they always looked at her BMI not her overall health.

00:31How are you doing? Jump on the scale and then we would have that same conversation

00:36again and again. Health professionals say weight discrimination causes unnecessary

00:41stress. We do not improve any health outcomes by making people feel bad about

00:47themselves or by shaming them for how their bodies are. That has long-lasting

00:52consequences for the woman such as depression, anxiety as well as negative

00:58outcomes for the baby. While it's well documented weight plays an important role

01:03in a healthy pregnancy, experts say there's a whole raft of systemic issues

01:08which need to be tackled well before an expectant mum steps foot in an

01:12obstetrician's office. If we are actually really interested in the good health of

01:17our population we need to provide weight inclusive, welcoming, nurturing,

01:23compassionate care. A new program at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital hopes to

01:28learn from the experience of mums to create more empathetic clinicians. It's really

01:33listening to those voices to change the hearts and minds of clinicians. I don't

01:38think any midwife or doctor gets up in the morning to come to work to make

01:43somebody feel bad about their body but often the bit that they don't see is the

01:47flow-on effect of the conversations that they've had.

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