The Weight of Words: How Language Shapes Trust and Treatment of Obesity Care (Non-CME)

The words clinicians use can shape how patients experience care. The Weight of Words: How Language Shapes Trust and Treatment for Obesity Care is an interactive e-learning module designed to help internal medicine clinicians recognize and reduce weight stigma while strengthening communication with patients living with obesity.

Through realistic patient scenarios, interactive activities, and practical examples, learners will explore how weight stigma and bias can affect trust, engagement, and health outcomes. The module provides strategies for using respectful, person-first language, navigating sensitive conversations, and incorporating shared decision-making and collaborative communication into everyday clinical practice. Learners will also consider how the clinical environment and their own assumptions can influence the patient experience.

By the end of the module, learners will be better prepared to recognize stigmatizing language and practices, communicate about obesity with greater empathy and respect, and foster patient-clinician relationships built on trust, dignity, and partnership.

Estimated completion time: 50–60 minutes
Format: Interactive e-learning
CME: This activity does not offer CME credit.

Sponsored by Lilly.

Katherine Salim, DO

Associate Physician

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Katherine Salim, DO, is an obesity medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at NCH Healthcare System in Naples, Florida, followed by fellowship training in Obesity Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The faculty member, for this activity, has no relevant relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.