Abstract

With children spending extended periods of time in the school environment, the attitudinal behaviours and policies of this setting present multiple opportunities where pupils who live with obesity can face an associated mental burden of personal and systemic weight-based stigmatisation (Baile et al, 2022; Czepczor-Bernat et al, 2025; Di Pasquale and Celsi, 2017; Himmelstein and Puhl, 2019). This presentation uses data which is part of a wider project exploring retrospective accounts of adults who experienced obesity in childhood. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 participants, ranging from 28 to 60 years of age. Topics derived from thematic analysis of the educational experiences of the participants were: (i) Attitudes of peers, (ii) Attitudes of staff, (iii) Policies and practices, (iv) Physical health, and (v) Psychological outcomes. Participants detailed how daily weight-based verbal and physical abuses in and out of school from peers impacted their physical and mental health. Whilst school staff often corrected these behaviours, teachers could still be a source for assumptions of laziness or low capabilities in children living with obesity. PE lessons were frequently described as ordeals where public humiliation by pupils or teachers was a consequence of body size. Many of the children suffered from health conditions with symptoms being erroneously attributed to their weight. This research also highlighted how sizes and designs of items stipulated by the school, such as uniforms and furniture, were inappropriate and served to draw judgemental attention to those with larger body sizes. For the participants these situations, often coupled with traumatic examples of adverse childhood experiences, resulted in; eating disorders, anxiety, depression, low self-worth, self-isolation, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and/or drug abuse which initiated in childhood and continued into their adult lives. Children who live with obesity require effective support in schools to mitigate the lasting effects on their mental and physical health. Participant recommendations for schools to support children living with obesity included; a school culture of body acceptance, obesity-informed training for staff and pupils, offering a wide range of physical activities, and recognition of underlying causes of weight gain or disordered eating.