New Communication Guide on Respectful Dialogue About Overweight

The Healthy City Network (Sund By Netværket), with support from the Centre for Childhood Health, has developed a new communication guide: Words Shape Reality – How Can We Communicate Respectfully About Overweight with Children, Young People, and Their Parents? The guide aims to contribute to destigmatizing conversations about overweight.

The guide builds on experiences from municipalities and regions, where children, young people, and adults participate in discussions about weight. Many professionals find these conversations challenging, with a high risk of stigmatization. To address this, the Healthy City Network brought together a working group of researchers, professionals, and municipal representatives to develop practical tools, advice, and phrasing that can support respectful dialogue.

This edition builds on a 2023 version that focused on adult citizens. The new version is aimed at children, young people, and their families and presents four key points to consider for a constructive conversation about weight. Workshops with members, research literature, and practical experience have all contributed to the content.

With the guide, the Healthy City Network (Sund By Netværket) aims to strengthen the communication skills of health professionals and help reduce weight stigma, benefiting both professionals and the children and families they work with.

You can read more about the Healthy City Network (Sund By Netværket) and the communication guide here.

Below, Senior Consultant and Project Manager Jan Andersson from the Healthy City Network (Sund By Netværket) talks a bit about the guide (the video is in Danish):