Marriage and Family Therapy Students' views on including weight bias training into their clinical programs

Discussions about diversity rarely focus on overweight and bias about body size (i.e., weight bias). These discussions about diversity allow students to develop self-awareness about how one’s biases can affect her or his clinical work, and the challenges and subsequent bias clients may face in their everyday lives and from clinical providers. One consequence of the rising prevalence of obesity in the United States (U.S.) is the subsequent increase in the level of weight bias and discrimination towards individuals who are overweight. Thus, it is imperative that training programs integrate training on weight bias as a part of diversity training. The purpose of this study was to pilot and evaluate a training program for Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) students about developing self-awareness around weight bias and working with clients who are overweight. The program was delivered to four MFT programs across the county. Following the program, focus groups were conducted to explore parti