5 Graduate Student Journal of Psychology Fall 2025 - Vol. 25 Copyright 2025 by the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology Teachers College, Columbia University A Conceptual Model for Addressing Weight Stigma and Health: Guiding Practitioner Conversations for Weight Health People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. — Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt People need support. Every person faces adversi- ty, and health is a universal concern – whether young or old, rich or poor, all contend with morbidity and mortality. Compassionate individuals are empowered by a deep desire to promote the well-being of others. Whether they work in medicine, health psychology, or public health, their passion for care sparks career inter- ests and fuels professional diligence. However, how can healthcare practitioners (some researchers prefer prac- titioner to provider; Scarff, 2021) from distinct train- ing backgrounds and professional roles navigate the complexities of weight-related health and weight stig- ma? This paper reconciles promoting health behavior and reducing stigma for weight health by proposing a novel conceptual model for practitioners. The model resolves a dilemma faced by many practitioners: saying too much (e.g., prescriptive weight-related health ad- vice exacerbating stigma) versus too little (e.g., ignor- ing insufficient health behavior engagement). To fully articulate the model, it is first necessary to review the evidence demonstrating the importance of weight-re- lated health and discuss weight stigma as a barrier to health. Weight Health Weight-related health is a principal public health concern globally (Okunogbe et al., 2022; Safaei et al., 2021). Being of higher body weight due to an excess of adiposity large enough to cause reduced health or lon- gevity – at least probabilistically over time – is linked to morbidity and mortality, is largely considered a com- plex lifestyle concern, and its consequences are associ- ated with increased risk for a myriad of cardiometabol- ic diseases (Allison et al., 2008; Fruh, 2017; Safaei et al., 2021). Indeed, higher-than-optimal body weight has been linked to increased risk, or at least concomitant to, “... nearly every chronic condition, from diabetes, to dyslipidemia, to poor mental health. Its impacts on risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease, certain can- cers, and osteoarthritis are significant” (Hruby & Hu, 2015, p. 10). Whether certain ranges of body weight (e.g., body mass index > 30; Allison et al., 2008; Katz, 2014) are to be medically considered a disease is irrel- evant to the development of the model. The strength of evidence demonstrates that it is beyond a reasonable doubt that being of higher body weight due to exces- sive accumulation of adipose tissue is related to poorer cardiometabolic health and well-being (Hruby & Hu, 2015; Pi-Sunyer, 2009; Robinson et al., 2020; Visscher & Seidell, 2001). Although weight-related health and associated conditions are complex in their etiology and maintenance, consequences related to morbidity and mortality are considered largely preventable or reducible (Fruh, 2017; Hruby & Hu, 2015). Promi- nent health organizations educate practitioners and patients about the negative impacts of higher-than-op- timal body weight. The World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Colter K. Clayton, MA Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi, USA Practitioners working in a variety of healthcare settings increasingly face a dilemma when speaking with patients about weight health. On one hand, prescriptive weight-related health advice can exacerbate stigma, while on the oth- er, ignoring insufficient health behavior engagement limits health and increases the risk of other adverse weight-re- lated health conditions. Research has demonstrated that higher-than-optimal body weight is a correlate of morbidity and mortality, but has also demonstrated that weight stigma is pervasive, negatively impacting health, health be- havior, and well-being. This article introduces a novel conceptual model to help practitioners initiate conversations about weight health by striving to support health behavior change in a way that deactivates and disempowers weight stigma. By advancing the acceptance principle from motivational interviewing and adapting its scope, the model focuses on destigmatizing attitudes and assumptions related to weight health to prevent or reduce generalized and internalized weight stigma. The model also focuses on limiting interpersonal stigma and its disruptive role in prac- titioner-patient communication by supporting personal autonomy for a lifestyle of health behavior. This article re- ports results from a rapid review and calls for research efforts to examine the potential causal role of active acceptance for reducing weight stigma. Overall, the conceptual model simultaneously promotes health behavior and reduces weight stigma for weight health. Keywords: weight stigma, weight health, health behavior, motivational interviewing, healthcare practitioner 6 WEIGHT AND STIGMA National Institutes of Health use websites1* to pub- licly disseminate the latest research on risk factors and best-practice health strategies to educate practitioners and patients. Healthcare practitioners know that weight loss (when needed) has a large impact on improving health through lowering risk for disease (e.g., type 2 diabe- tes, hypertension, dyslipidemia; Haase et al., 2021) and is linked to improvement in current health con- ditions (Pojednic et al., 2022). Even modest amounts of weight loss (e.g., >5% of body weight) are associated with clinically significant improvements in cardiomet- abolic health and emotional well-being (Fruh, 2017), and weight loss at higher levels can lead to further improvements (Ryan & Yockey, 2017). More engage- ment in health behaviors is needed; physical activity, eating a healthy diet, and obtaining quality sleep are vital for health. For example, in the United States, only about 1 in 4 adults meets physical activity guidelines, and engagement is even lower among those with lower incomes (Elgaddal et al., 2020). Practitioners also know that physical activity has health benefits independent of body weight. For ex- ample, among people with higher body weight, phys- ical activity has demonstrated positive changes at the cellular level (e.g., improved enzyme function), along with improved metabolic function (e.g., increased in- sulin sensitivity), and better cardiovascular outcomes (e.g., decreased arterial stiffness; Pojednic et al., 2022). Thus, physiologic improvements observed with in- creased physical activity are observed despite starting weight and irrespective of whether weight loss occurs, and cardiorespiratory fitness is an indicator of meta- bolic health (Ortega et al., 2013). Given that health be- haviors such as physical activity contribute to health, increased adherence and implementation are needed. Weight Stigma Practitioners are increasingly becoming aware of how health stigma and discrimination limit social ac- ceptance and opportunity, and how they exacerbate inequality, which are well-documented barriers to en- gagement in healthcare and health behaviors (Hatzen- 1 *https://www.who.int/health-topics/obesity#tab=tab_1; https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesi- ty-and-overweight; https://www.cdc.gov/family-healthy-weight/ php/recognized-programs/index.html; https://www.cdc.gov/ obesity/php/about/obesity-strategies-what-can-be-done.html; https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-manage- ment/adult-overweight-obesity/health-risks buehler et al., 2013; Stangl et al., 2019). Weight stigma is a form of health stigma. It refers to reduced social status due to excess body weight, and weight-related negative attitudes are linked to discriminatory actions such as unfair treatment in healthcare (Rubino et al., 2020). A landmark study at the turn of the century by pioneering weight stigma researchers introduced its negative impact on employment, education, and healthcare (Puhl & Brownell, 2001). Subsequent re- search has solidified weight stigma as a major health issue: at least 1 in 2 adults experience stigma related to their weight, which is associated with less regular medical checkups, healthcare avoidance, and worse healthcare quality experiences (Puhl et al., 2021). Re- cent international research initiatives to address weight stigma have called for more actions from the medical community to promote the education and training of healthcare professionals to practice without participa- tion in or perpetuation of weight stigma (Puhl et al., 2021; Puhl, 2023; Rubino et al., 2020). Healthcare practitioners are increasingly recog- nizing that weight stigma is not helpful or healthy. A major concern of weight stigma is its negative effect on health behaviors: decreased physical activity, decreased healthcare engagement, and paradoxically, even weight gain (Tomiyama, 2014). Weight stigma has negative impacts in laboratory and real-life contexts (Major et al., 2014; Panza et al., 2023; Puhl & Suh, 2015; Rubi- no et al., 2020). For example, brief exposure to reading or watching weight stigma can elicit cardiovascular re- activity and increase overeating behavior (Major et al., 2014; Panza et al., 2023). The everyday consequences of weight stigma include maladaptive eating behaviors (e.g., binge eating), lower engagement in physical ac- tivity, and unhealthy weight gain (Puhl & Suh, 2015). Dilemmas of Weight Health and Stigma Saying too much can exacerbate stigma. For ex- ample, some researchers have called for increased so- cial pressures (e.g., societal shame) to help individuals become more aware of their weight and associated stigmatization (Callahan, 2013), but subsequent stig- ma research did not support social pressure as a viable method to improve weight health (Puhl et al., 2021). Conversely, saying too little may condone poor health behaviors. The Health at Every Size (HAES) approach is a product of both academic research and social movements that challenge weight stigma, deprioritize weight and weight-related biomarkers of health, and 7 CLAYTON promote bodily acceptance to improve health and well-being (Bombak, 2014; Penney & Kirk, 2015). Fa- cilitating access to healthcare that is free of shame is a prominent virtue of this framework. However, while intending to reduce stigma, dismissing (whether delib- erately or inadvertently) physical health recommenda- tions may occur. People with higher weight report negative psy- chological reactions to receiving weight-related advice from healthcare practitioners (Standen et al., 2024), which may explain why some groups reject and even criticize weight health recommendations as unethical (e.g., HAES). Self-affirmation theory describes how people maintain integrity to themselves (Steele, 1988). In weight stigma research, this theory may explain why people may be motivated to maintain a positive self- view regarding their weight when perceiving weight stigma. For example, a healthcare professional recom- mending weight loss may evoke a patient’s efforts to maintain self-integrity, where healthcare recommen- dations related to body weight are perceived as attacks on personal identity; this may be a reason that recom- mendations can fail to produce motivation for change. Thus, practitioners must simultaneously preserve pa- tients’ self-integrity and recommend health behavior change. Given the interacting complexities of weight-re- lated health and stigma, practitioners face a daunting responsibility to care for patients. The dilemma prac- titioners face is two competing risks: over-alerting pa- tients can be counterproductive, eliciting societal or personal shame and exacerbating the distress of stigma; conversely, under-alerting patients to weight-related health risks fails to promote positive health behavior change. A paradigm grounded in theory and evidence is needed to guide practitioners as they navigate the complexities of weight-related health. Developing the WHISTLE Model Research on the biopsychosocial factors of weight-related health and healthcare has led to theo- retical and conceptual models that are comprehensive and often complex (Marks, 2015; McCabe et al., 2023; Michie et al., 2014; Plotnikoff et al., 2007). How- ever, such models are not specific to stigma, though one model of weight stigma has emphasized a vicious feedback loop of stigma and weight gain (Tomiyama, 2014). Thus, existing models fall short of offering a simple and practical framework to begin helpful dis- cussions about weight health and stigma. The novel Weight Health through Integrated Stigma-Reduction and Lifestyle Engagement (WHISTLE) model serves as a guide for practitioners. In contrast to the tradition- al "sick" role of passive prescriptions, contemporary healthcare increasingly prioritizes enhancing patient agency to boost health outcomes through more ef- fective health behavior (Armstrong, 2014). However, healthcare practitioners may feel uncomfortable or in- competent in discussing weight with patients (Pont et al., 2017). The WHISTLE model aids practitioners as they practice attitudes of acceptance to reduce weight stigma when opening a conversation about weight-re- lated health that facilitates the encouragement of health behavior change by using a patient-centered ap- proach. Health behavior change is facilitated through the atheoretical principles of motivational interviewing. At its core, motivational interviewing is an empirically supported, patient-centered approach to talking with people in a way that strengthens their own motivation and commitment for behavioral change (Miller & Rollnick, 2023). Reflections and questions by prac- titioners help patients work through the natural am- bivalence they experience when facing decisions about behavioral change. The proposed mechanism that has received the most empirical support is practitioners’ use of selectively reinforcing patients’ own motiva- tional statements for behavior change (Bischof et al., 2021). Research on motivational interviewing as a fa- vorable intervention for positive health behavior (e.g., physical activity) and weight-related health outcomes is mixed (Amiri et al., 2022; Frost et al., 2018; Lundahl et al., 2013; Makin et al., 2021; Michalopoulou et al., 2022). However, motivational interviewing as an em- pirically supported way of effectively being in a help- ing relationship (e.g., practitioner engagement) and facilitating behavior change has received substantial empirical support across healthcare settings (Bischof et al., 2021; Lundahl et al., 2013; Luty & Iwanowicz, 2018; Magill et al., 2018; Miller & Rollnick, 2023; Ru- bak et al., 2005). While motivational interviewing principles broad- ly support behavioral change, they do not address the issue of stigma – particularly weight-related stigma – in weight-related health outcomes. The novel WHIS- TLE model is a person-centered framework that tar- 8 WEIGHT AND STIGMA gets weight health conversations and was derived from a component known as acceptance. The WHISTLE model’s guiding principle of acceptance was based on a previous edition of the motivational interviewing ap- proach created by Miller & Rollnick (2013) with four ‘A’s: absolute worth, accurate empathy, affirmation, and autonomy support. In the WHISTLE model, the four ‘A’s function as fundamental assumptions, attitudes, and actions for practitioners working with patients and weight health concerns. Thus, the WHIS- TILE model provides a foundation to simultaneously reduce stigma and encourage health behavior change. In the WHISTLE model, practitioners assume and adopt an attitude that each patient has inher- ent worth irrespective of weight, health, or behavior, and that each person is innately capable of behavior- al change. Actions of practitioner acceptance include expressing accurate empathy and communicating a genuine interest in understanding the patient’s expe- riences and situation (Schumacher & Madson, 2014). Practitioners also provide affirmations and statements to help patients see their own strengths and resourc- es and champion patients’ autonomy as they choose whether and how to make behavioral change. Since patients with a history of weight stigma report being less heard and respected by their healthcare practi- tioner (Puhl et al., 2021), the WHISTLE model’s as- sumptions, attitudes, and actions function to reduce self-stigma, stigma in the practitioner-patient relation- ship, and prevent or reduce generalized weight stigma from interfering with healthcare discussions about weight health (see Figure 1). Weight stigma interferes with practitioner-patient communication through shameful language and im- paired emotional engagement, which are associated with healthcare disengagement and avoidance (Puhl, 2023). Practitioners with higher weight stigmatizing attitudes report feeling less confident in offering weight health recommendations and less likely to use a per- son-centered approach when speaking with patients (Bennett & Puhl, 2024). On the other hand, within a motivational interviewing approach, patients who talk about plans for behavior change show better body weight outcomes over time (Copeland et al., 2017). Pa- tients can feel simultaneously motivated to lose weight and feel bad (e.g., guilty) regarding their weight-relat- ed health (Standen et al., 2024), highlighting the need for concurrent stigma reduction and health behavior encouragement. Practitioners may be better equipped to work with weight health to deactivate stigma with acceptance-promoting statements. The WHISTLE model helps practitioners to channel an atmosphere of acceptance to 1) prevent generalized social stigma and their own potentially stigmatizing attitude from entering the relationship, and 2) reduce self-stigmatizing beliefs among patients (though the patient acts as the mediator of this relation- ship; see Figure 1). Within this atmosphere, practicing acceptance moves generalized practitioner stigma and self-stigma further away from the patient to allow for increased patient self-efficacy, weight-related health in- formation discussions, and encouragement of healthy lifestyle behavior. The figurative cloud represents the subjective, relational aspect in which practitioner-pa- tient communication occurs. Statements of accurate empathy increase connection and empower patients’ autonomy for making behavioral health changes (see Table 1). Supporting autonomy is intended to have the dual effect of further reducing stigma while pro- moting behavior change. Practitioners risk eliciting ambivalent or negative psychological reactions as they offer weight-related advice, but a two-way discussion is a characteristic of patients feeling motivated to be- gin healthy behavior change (Standen et al., 2024). Practitioners using the WHISTLE model who create an atmosphere for health behavior change, champion patient autonomy, and affirm the value and ability of healthy lifestyle behavior will likely negate the adverse impacts of stigma on health and well-being. The WHISTLE model extends behavioral change frameworks. For example, motivational interviewing and self-determination theory (i.e., an empirical frame- work for enhancing behavior change) are conceptually related and aid practitioners in helping patients inter- nalize their own motivation and ultimately foster voli- tional health behavior change (Abildsnes et al., 2021). Although these informed the development of the WHISTLE model, this model uniquely highlights the necessity of averting weight stigma’s disrupting role in hampering practitioner-patient communication and provides a feasible template for accomplishing this task. It is also important to recognize that increasing sensitivity to perceived harm, such as weight stigma, may engender a sense of diminished perceived control among patients, which is a factor that has long been recognized as a facilitator of health behavior change 9 CLAYTON (Schwarzer & Fuchs, 1996; Strecher et al., 1986). Con- versely, while self-affirmation can be a barrier, it is also a catalyst for behavior change (Cohen & Sherman, 2014). Indeed, research has demonstrated the value of affirmation interventions, which are associated with better health, including increased health behavior and even lowering body weight toward healthier ranges (Epton et al., 2015; Ferrer & Cohen, 2019; Logel & Cohen, 2012). For example, self-affirmation is associ- ated with greater acceptance of health information and stronger motivation for health behavior change when receiving health risk information (Epton et al., 2015). Discussion The WHISTLE model is not a full-scale interven- tion but rather emphasizes an attitude of acceptance in which practitioners harmoniously attend to disarming stigma and facilitating health behavior for weight-re- lated health. Other researchers have developed a high-quality guide to foster practitioner-patient com- munication within a motivational interviewing ap- proach to reduce stigma in weight health (see Scherr et al., 2023, for a review). The WHISTLE model adds to this research by focusing on attitudes and actions of acceptance, and its primary purpose is to initiate con- versations about weight health and behavioral change within an attitude of acceptance to prevent and reduce stigma. Beyond initial engagement and discussion about weight health using the WHISTLE model, prac- titioners use methods and treatments congruent with their expertise, responsibility, and setting. More sim- ply, a broad scope guideline to continue conversations is outlined within a Brief Action Plan (BAP), which is a person-centered approach to facilitate health behav- ioral change and has supporting evidence across many healthcare settings (Jadotte et al., 2023). The WHIS- TLE model’s biopsychosocial lens allows for a compas- sionate and health-focused approach to reduce stigma and empower patients to participate in healthy lifestyle behaviors. Consistent with motivational interviewing principles, the WHISTLE model does not imply en- dorsement of unhealthy behaviors but rather acts as a relational process in which an attitude of acceptance deactivates stigma while still facilitating health behav- ior change. As practitioners within the WHISTLE model focus on empirically supported health behav- iors in an atmosphere of acceptance that affirms one’s inherent value, defuses stigma, and supports autono- my for health behavior change, weight-related health is likely to improve. A Call to Healthcare Practitioners Psychological theories on behavior change are ad- vancing the landscape of healthcare quality (Hilton, 2023). Healthcare practitioners across training back- grounds and treatment settings have a duty to promote weight health and well-being. Mental health clinicians are even emerging as important, supplementary prac- titioners to weight-related health concerns (Dandgey & Patten, 2023; Murray et al., 2021). Given the rising adverse health consequences of higher body weight, inaction will have negative global impacts on health, well-being, and economic resources (Okunogbe et al., 2022). Although calls for systemic-based changes are increasing (and likely required) to effectuate last- ing weight-related health improvements from a pub- lic health perspective (Okunogbe et al., 2022; Puhl & Suh, 2015), practitioners maintain the responsibility to promote health behavior change. Health psychology research has recognized weight-related health as a persistent public health con- cern despite decades of targeted resources and research (Brownell, 2010). Health psychologists have a duty to bilaterally support patients based on the advancing em- pirical literature across health sciences. Just as weight stigma research is progressing, the data establishing the health benefits of healthy lifestyle behavior and the risks for morbidity and mortality related to higher body weight are also advancing. Health psychologists are well-positioned to handle potentially conflicting goals related to stigma, behavior, and weight health. However, to maintain this position, health psychol- ogists and related professionals must maintain fidel- ity to evidence demonstrating the negative impacts of higher body weight and strive to mitigate risks through facilitating health behavior. For example, con- trary to HAES, health psychologists cannot maintain weight-related neutrality when presented with oppor- tunities to promote weight-related health. Health be- havior and weight-related health dialogue need not be removed nor disparaged to reduce weight-related stig- ma. Promoting empirically supported health behav- iors (e.g., physical activity) for weight-related health is vital for patients and a duty of practitioners. Future Research Directions The WHISTLE model has implications for at least three directions for research. First, there has been 10 WEIGHT AND STIGMA promising research on self-affirmation as a weight-re- lated health treatment (Logel & Cohen, 2012). More research should test whether self-affirmation interven- tions are effective for protecting patient self-identity in the context of receiving healthcare recommendations, reducing weight stigma, and facilitating health behav- ior changes congruent with weight health recommen- dations. Relatedly, compounding stigmas represent a greater health concern (Stangl et al., 2019), but re- search has only recently begun to investigate weight stigma and diversity, such as the intersectionality of weight stigma, race, and gender. Experienced weight stigma is similar across racial and gender groups but internalized less among Black and Hispanic individu- als relative to White individuals, and less among men relative to women (Himmelstein et al., 2017; Reece, 2019; Wetzel & Himmelstein, 2024). Notably, low- er self-compassion is associated with greater weight stigma across racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, which represents a potential target for reducing inter- nalized weight stigma (Puhl et al., 2020). Second, the impact of technical aspects of the WHISTLE model (i.e., acceptance statements and questions) should be empirically investigated to test the hypothesized effect of simultaneously reducing weight stigma and facilitating healthy lifestyle behav- ioral change (Moizé et al., 2025). To operationalize the processes of the WHISTLE model, researchers could determine whether a practitioner’s statement (or ques- tion) for initiating conversations about weight health is congruent with the four ‘A’s of acceptance. For ex- ample, 1 = congruent, 0 = partially congruent, and -1 = not congruent, with higher total scores reflecting higher adherence to the WHISTLE model. Table 1 provides appropriate statements, each of which is con- gruent with assumptions, attitudes, and actions of ac- ceptance in the WHISTLE model. A randomized con- trolled trial could be conducted to compare the weight stigma and behavioral outcomes of practitioners who use the WHISTLE model to initiate conversations with patients compared to an active control, such as practitioners’ treatment as usual, which often involves blunt recommendations to reduce body weight that exacerbate stigma (Standen et al., 2024). Behavioral outcomes may be measured by any relevant health be- havior metric (e.g., change in total minutes per week spent participating in physical activity). Weight stig- ma outcomes may be assessed using existing validated weight stigma measures such as the Perceived Weight Stigma Scale (PWSS; Schafer & Ferraro, 2011). Third, researchers from disparate training back- grounds (e.g., medicine, public health, psychology, sociology) may consider joint initiatives to synthesize data across biopsychosocial health science domains to elucidate weight health and stigma interactions. Results of such research would inform interventions to simultaneously reduce stigma and promote weight health and well-being. A major limitation is that extant literature on mo- tivational interviewing has not examined its potential effectiveness (i.e., its potential causal role) for reducing weight stigma, as evidenced by a systematic rapid re- view (see Appendix) using Approach 3 by Tricco et al. (2016). However, there are theoretical reasons that suggest that acceptance would be potentially effective for reducing stigma given that motivational interview- ing is efficacious for behavioral change among people with substance use issues, who experience substance use stigma (El Hayek et al., 2024; Kulesza et al., 2013; Magnan et al., 2024; Miller & Rollnick, 2023; Yang et al., 2018). The only study to quantitatively correlate motivational interviewing and weight stigma showed that physician experience with motivational interview- ing was associated with more use of person-first lan- guage and positive perceptions of patient adherence to treatment recommendations (Bennett & Puhl, 2024). Although the WHISTLE model’s foundation on pa- tient acceptance and engagement lends itself well to reducing weight stigma in healthcare contexts (Moizé et al., 2025), the empirical research previously outlined is a necessary next step to evaluate the potential efficacy of the WHISTLE model. Conclusion The WHISTLE model is utilitarian, emphasizing action where health behavior promotion and an atti- tude of acceptance to reduce stigma occur concurrent- ly. At its basic level, the WHISTLE model is a unifying agent for practitioners and patients working together to improve weight-related health. Practitioners must engage in accepting and collaborative conversations to increase health behavior, whether preventive or reactive, focusing on person-centered care to foster weight health. Attitudes and actions demonstrated in an atmosphere of acceptance are likely to lead to reduced stigma and enhanced practitioner-patient 11 CLAYTON communication. Healthcare and mental health prac- titioners who encourage health behavior and discuss weight health may face criticism from colleagues or patients who favor reducing stigma over promoting weight-related health as campaigns against weight stigma become increasingly heard and promoted (e.g., HAES). However, there is no need to campaign for avoiding conversations about health behavior and denigrate health science research for the destigmatiza- tion of weight. Indeed, discussing the importance of fundamental health behavior (e.g., physical activity) may appear less popular, but it is more vital than ever. Overall, the WHISTLE model functions to increase patient-centered care by empowering practitioners to face the challenge of initiating weight-related health and health behavior change discussions in a way that deactivates the barriers of stigma. Acknowledgements I sincerely thank Dr. Andrew H. Hales for his pro- fessorship and writing mentorship. References Abildsnes, E., Elin Andresen, N., Storbaekken, S., Beate Samdal, G., Mildestvedt, T., & Meland, E. (2021). How is motivational interviewing (un) related to self-determination theory: An empiri- cal study from different healthcare settings. 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Search strategy for PubMed Block 1: Motivational interviewing Block 2: Stigma Block 3: Weight Note. Database was accessed 4/2/2025. No filters or date ranges were applied. The three blocks were connected with the Boolean operator ‘AND’. The search yielded five results. Screening determined that no study examined the potential relationship between motivational interviewing and weight stigma. 19 CLAYTON Appendix Supporting Table 2. Search strategy for Scopus Block 1: Motivational interviewing Block 2: Stigma Block 3: Weight Note. Database was accessed 4/2/2025. No filters or date ranges were applied. The three blocks were connected with the Boolean operator ‘AND’. The search yielded five results. Screening determined that no study examined the potential relationship between motivational interviewing and weight stigma.