Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit

A. Janet Tomiyama

Status: Completed

Conditions: Feeding Behaviors

Treatments: Other: Fat Suit; Other: Control Condition

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02745405

13-001873

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 109 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participants had to be registered in the UCLA Department of Psychology Subject Pool.

Exclusion criteria

• No specific exclusion criteria.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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109 participants in 2 patient groups

Fat Suit Condition

Experimental group

Description:

Participants are randomly assigned to wear a fat suit and then walk across campus.

Treatment:

Other: Fat Suit

Control Condition

Other group

Description:

Participants are randomly assigned to wear the same clothing that is on the fat suit but in their own size and then walk across campus.

Treatment:

Other: Control Condition