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Hannah F. Fitterman-Harris

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Louisville
Chapter Member: Kentucky SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Hannah

Fitterman-Harris's research focuses on weight stigma and eating disorders. Overarching themes in Fitterman-Harris's writing include the reduction of weight stigma in medical and mental health settings and improving the treatment of eating disorders. Fitterman-Harris serves on the Health Service Provider Education and the Education and Prevention subcommittees of the Kentucky Eating Disorders Council.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Kentucky Must Take Action Against Weight Discrimination. It’s Costing the State Billions.

  • Cheri A. Levinson

Publications

"Assessing Weight Bias among Healthcare Professionals: Creation and Validation of an Instrument," Saint Louis University, 2022.

Outlines the development of an instrument used specifically to assess weight bias among healthcare professionals. Items were developed based on focus groups with patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare students.

"Weight Bias Reduction Among First-Year Medical Students: A Quasi-Randomized, Controlled Trial" (with Jillon S. Vander Wal). Clinical Obesity 11, no. 6 (2021).

Aimed to reduce weight bias in medical students through a single-session intervention based on the elaboration likelihood model. The intervention did not significantly decrease bias compared to an education-based control group, but both groups showed reduced discomfort around individuals with obesity. The intervention group demonstrated increased awareness and discussion of weight bias, emphasizing the importance of assessing intervention effects through comprehensive measures beyond traditional bias scales.