When the Professional Gets Personal: Teachers’ Experiences of Learning About Weight-Neutral Approaches to School Health Promotion
Date
2024-05-22
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Abstract
Health promotion is commonly carried out in schools. While school health promotion may aim to support health in a holistic way, it often reflects a weight-centric approach that places undue emphasis on body weight as the primary focus. As weight-centric approaches to health carry risks for student and teacher health and wellbeing, some schools are adopting a weight-neutral approach that supports health for people of all body sizes. Teachers are at the forefront of the shift to a weight-neutral approach in schools, and as a result, professional learning (PL) initiatives have been developed to help them make this change. Shifting to a weight-neutral approach to health may require significant changes in teachers’ personal beliefs about weight and health, and the personal impact of weight-neutral PL has implications for both teacher wellbeing and teachers’ ability to convey a weight-neutral approach effectively with students. In this qualitative study, I aimed to understand the influence of a PL series about weight-neutral approaches to health on teachers’ personal relationships with their bodies and health. Eleven teachers who completed a weight-neutral PL series were interviewed about their experiences. Reflexive thematic analysis (rTA) of the data revealed that participants became more aware of how their past experiences were shaped by a weight-centric approach to health; experienced a new, more weight-neutral way of relating to their bodies; and conceived of ways to maintain and advocate for a weight-neutral approach to health in the future. These findings are discussed in light of their implications for teacher wellbeing, future weight-neutral PL initiatives, and counselling psychology practice.
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health promotion, weight-neutrality, teaching, professional learning, reflexive thematic analysis
Citation
Williams, L. (2024). When the professional gets personal: teachers’ experiences of learning about weight-neutral approaches to school health promotion (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.