NCT02745405

Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit

Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit for Eating, Physiological Stress, and Psychological Well-Being

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 109 (actual)
• Sponsor: A. Janet Tomiyama · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study examined how wearing a fat suit might lead individuals to experience the negative effects of weight based stigmatization, including psychological, behavioral, and physiological consequences. It also aimed to test using the fat suit as a possible intervention tactic to reduce weight stigma.

Detailed description

The goal of this study was to understand how embodying a stigmatized domain might elicit the same consequences investigators see in victims of weight stigma. Participants were randomly assigned to either manipulate their weight through wearing a fat suit prosthesis or to a control condition where they wore the same clothing that was on the fat suit but in their own size. Outcome variables were cortisol reactivity, psychological well-being, and food and drink consumption. Additionally, this study tested whether wearing the fat suit might serve as an effective weight stigma reduction effort.

Conditions

• Feeding Behaviors

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Fat Suit	Participants wear a fat suit.
OTHER	Control Condition	Participants wear same clothing as intervention, but in their own size.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-04-01
• Primary completion: 2014-12-01
• Completion: 2014-12-01
• First posted: 2016-04-20
• Last updated: 2016-04-20