When the Professional Gets Personal: Teachers’ Experiences of Learning About Weight-Neutral Approaches to School Health Promotion

Williams, Lindsay

When the Professional Gets Personal: Teachers’ Experiences of Learning About Weight-Neutral Approaches to School Health Promotion

dc.contributor.advisor	Russell-Mayhew, Shelly
dc.contributor.author	Williams, Lindsay
dc.contributor.committeemember	Mudry, Tanya
dc.contributor.committeemember	Danyluk, Patricia
dc.date	2024-11
dc.date.accessioned	2024-05-24T18:56:53Z
dc.date.available	2024-05-24T18:56:53Z
dc.date.issued	2024-05-22
dc.description.abstract	Health promotion is commonly carried out in schools. While school health promotion may aim to support health in a holistic way, it often reflects a weight-centric approach that places undue emphasis on body weight as the primary focus. As weight-centric approaches to health carry risks for student and teacher health and wellbeing, some schools are adopting a weight-neutral approach that supports health for people of all body sizes. Teachers are at the forefront of the shift to a weight-neutral approach in schools, and as a result, professional learning (PL) initiatives have been developed to help them make this change. Shifting to a weight-neutral approach to health may require significant changes in teachers’ personal beliefs about weight and health, and the personal impact of weight-neutral PL has implications for both teacher wellbeing and teachers’ ability to convey a weight-neutral approach effectively with students. In this qualitative study, I aimed to understand the influence of a PL series about weight-neutral approaches to health on teachers’ personal relationships with their bodies and health. Eleven teachers who completed a weight-neutral PL series were interviewed about their experiences. Reflexive thematic analysis (rTA) of the data revealed that participants became more aware of how their past experiences were shaped by a weight-centric approach to health; experienced a new, more weight-neutral way of relating to their bodies; and conceived of ways to maintain and advocate for a weight-neutral approach to health in the future. These findings are discussed in light of their implications for teacher wellbeing, future weight-neutral PL initiatives, and counselling psychology practice.
dc.identifier.citation	Williams, L. (2024). When the professional gets personal: teachers’ experiences of learning about weight-neutral approaches to school health promotion (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/118833
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Werklund School of Education
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	health promotion
dc.subject	weight-neutrality
dc.subject	teaching
dc.subject	professional learning
dc.subject	reflexive thematic analysis
dc.subject.classification	Educational Psychology
dc.subject.classification	Mental Health
dc.subject.classification	Education--Guidance and Counseling
dc.subject.classification	Education--Health
dc.subject.classification	Education--Teacher Training
dc.title	When the Professional Gets Personal: Teachers’ Experiences of Learning About Weight-Neutral Approaches to School Health Promotion
dc.type	master thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Education Graduate Program – Educational Psychology
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science (MSc)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.