Abstract

Tittle: ‘The doctor said I was… a little… overweight than normal, so I want to be … healthier… normal’ Children’s views and experiences on weight and body, a qualitative study in Santiago, Chile. Introduction: In Chile, 58.3% of children are classified as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ (JUNAEB 2021). However, there is a limited understanding of children's experiences with their bodies and weight and how these experiences might inform public health policy in Chile. Methods: 34 semi-structured interviews were conducted with children between 10-12 years classified as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ (N=18) and their mothers (N=16). A Reflexive Thematic approach (Braun and Clarke 2022) to analysis has been adopted. Results: Children's meanings of body, growth and weight have been affected by medicalisation processes -surveillance, measuring, and monitoring at the clinics-; Children had differing perspectives on their weight and body that were context-specific and shaped by social interactions including at clinics, within the family, in interactions with peers or with others in public spaces. The language used by children to describe their bodies differed from those given by the clinicians using medical terminology (‘overweight’ / ‘obese’). Children described their body weight in terms of body size, but not as an illness, disease or chronic condition. Within families and peer relations, children had learned that ‘being overweight’ is a characteristic which is insulted and the cause of teasing and bullying. For the children, overweight was experienced negatively and perceived as devalued and shameful, undesirable, highly stigmatised, and associated with ideas of abnormality. They expressed a sense of individual responsibility for their weight. Conclusion: Children did not describe themselves with medical labels (‘overweight’ and ‘obese’) however, the weight stigma associated with those labels made them feel ashamed. These findings are relevant because they highlight the unintended consequences of the current Chilean public policies and surveillance strategies on children based on BMI to classify ‘overweight’ and ‘obesity’ and to reduce overweight.