{"doi":"10.1002/osp4.457","title":"Weight stigma is overlooked in commercial‐grade mobile applications for weight loss and weight‐related behaviors","abstract":"Behavioral treatments for weight loss and weight-related behaviors increasingly leverage commercially available health-focused mobile applications (i.e., “apps”) to assist participants in changing weight-related behaviors (e.g., monitoring caloric intake, body weight, and physical activity).1, 2 This includes weight loss treatments in which the content and behavior change tools are delivered entirely through a single mobile application (e.g., Noom or WW) as well as mobile applications that can act as adjuncts to existing programs to assist participants with making changes to specific weight-related behaviors (i.e., monitoring caloric intake, body weight, and physical activity). The benefits of using commercial mobile apps to augment obesity treatments are evident: these apps are widely available, easily accessed, and portable.3 As such, apps have potential to improve adherence to weight-related behaviors and enhance engagement.1, 2, 4 As app usage and variety expands,5 researchers have begun investigating and expressing concern about the lack of evidence-based strategies incorporated into commercially available apps in particular.1, 2, 4 However, this work has not examined one topic that may have crucial implications for the utility of apps: weight-related stigmatization. Weight-related stigmatization refers to social devaluation of an individual based on body weight through negative stereotyping (e.g., being lazy, unintelligent, and lacking self-control).6 It is perpetuated in a number of ways including, but not limited to, media portrayals of individuals of higher body weight, overt discrimination, language, and environmental barriers.6 Weight-related stigma is pervasive as it remains a socially acceptable form of bias.6, 7 As such, the possibility exists that stigma may be unintentionally embedded into health-focused apps via language, images, and functionality. Despite beliefs by some that these experiences will motivate individuals to be healthier, growing evidence indicates that weight-related stigma can interfere with achieving or maintaining a healthy weight through mechanisms such as elevated physiological stress, reduced motivation, obesogenic eating behaviors, exercise avoidance, and reduced access to healthcare.6, 7 Weight-stigmatizing experiences can have a lasting influence on subsequent health behaviors (e.g., as a result of experiencing weight stigma, individuals might avoid exercise or engage in eating behaviors that are inconsistent with goals).6 Thus, apps that have weight stigmatization unintentionally embedded within them may de-incentivize behavior change and/or cause emotional distress. This is problematic because: (1) apps have massive reach8 and (2) apps have potential to reach a population that may already feel stigmatized for their weight or other characteristics. To illustrate, consider a user who has entered data reflecting low levels of physical activity and then receives automated feedback including language describing performance as “lazy” or “slacking off”. While perhaps attempting to be light-hearted and colloquial, this language reinforces negative stereotypes about individuals of higher body weight; namely that they do not exercise and are sedentary (and thus may negate any constructive suggestions that follow). These stereotypes are compounded by the pervasiveness of anti-fat attitudes among exercise professionals,9 assumptions that individuals of higher body weight are unmotivated or unable to exercise,9, 10 and also by factors signaling that individuals with larger bodies are not welcome within physical activity spaces due to equipment that cannot accommodate their size or by treatment from others.11 This weight stigmatizing language is embedded in the context of an evidence-based strategy as self-monitoring of exercise behavior and receiving feedback is not only theoretically grounded but empirically supported as an effective tool for behavior change. However, the presence of weight stig","journal":"Obesity Science & Practice","year":2020,"id":110628,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9501,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":525868,"name":"Stephanie P. Goldstein","orcid":"0000-0002-9656-1675","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":379214,"name":"Jason Lillis","orcid":"0000-0002-0884-8730","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":489775,"name":"Emily Panza","orcid":"0000-0001-9874-4160","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":489774,"name":"KayLoni L. Olson","orcid":"0000-0001-7946-9570","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":30,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:12:57.988348Z","pmid":"33841895","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}