Designing a Group Therapy Program for Coping with Childhood Weight Bias

Research indicates that the negative psychosocial consequences of childhood obesity may reflect the degree of weight bias and mistreatment affecting the child. Even though comprehensive practice models evolve over time, the intense distress of these children calls for more timely intervention. Using a modification of social research and development methodology, a short-term group therapy approach using cognitive and behavioral methods was designed. Questionnaires were developed to assess both the child's and the parents' perceptions of the frequency, circumstances, and responses to being teased. At the end of the program, all of the children and parents showed proficiency in describing and demonstrating the coping strategies in the curriculum. A two-year follow-up found that most of the children reported fewer episodes of teasing. This article demonstrates the use of intervention research methodology to rapidly design and implement a preliminary approach to help children with severe obesity cope with weight-related teasing. Although this program needs further empirical testing and refinement before it can be more widely deployed, it represents an important initiative in responding to the distress of children who are victimized because of obesity.