Hidden Trauma in Overweight Women

Excess weight is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Once considered a problem only in developed countries, excess weight is now dramatically rising in developing countries. While most of the studies conducted on excess weight have concentrated on issues related to why people gain weight, there is little knowledge about what overweight people really experience in their daily lives. The aim of this study was to create an understanding of the real experience of obesity in women.
In this qualitative study conducted using interpretive phenomenological approach, 12 overweight women were purposefully selected. Data were collected during individual, semi-structured and deep interviews. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed by the Van Manen (2006) approach.
Life experiences of excess weight in women were summarized by a main theme: “The Hidden Trauma” and subthemes including: “offended of speaking”, “finger of accusation to weight” and “unequal opportunities”.
Findings of this study showed that most of the participants experienced negative feedbacks during their interactions with the society. The achievement of the present study was the fact that if overweight women experience negative feedbacks due to their weights in the society, especially through family members and health care providers, its negative outcomes prevents them from receiving health care services or participating in the society and also will cause lack of effective communication in the family. All the above factors have negative impacts on women’s health and consequently on families and the society. The way we interact with and give feedback towards these people is really important.