5.1 Establishing rapport and acknowledging stigma 

Obesity can be a hard topic to talk about; some pharmacists and their teams say they can sometimes find it difficult to start the conversation even when the person has come to the pharmacy for a weight management appointment.

People with overweight or obesity often experience negative attitudes, prejudice and discrimination about their weight from other people, including healthcare professionals. This stigma may be both societal and internalised. The person may have unsuccessfully tried to lose weight on a few or many previous occasions and may feel like a failure. Few people are a completely blank page when it comes to trying to lose weight.

It seems obvious but health professionals’ own feelings can be complex and need to be acknowledged to make sure that consultations remain non-judgemental and show sensitivity. From the reports of people who have obesity and from health professionals themselves, this is not always the case.