My Sjunnestrand

PhD student at Department of food studies, nutrition and dietetics

E-mail:
my.sjunnestrand@ikv.uu.se
Visiting address:
BMC
Husargatan 3
752 37 Uppsala
Postal address:
Box 560
751 22 UPPSALA

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Short presentation

I am a nutritionist and PhD student specializing in weight stigma in early childhood. In my dissertation, The early origins of weight stigma, I explore weight stigma in young children’s environments, focusing on the home, preschool, and healthcare settings. I plan to defend my thesis in 2027.

My main supervisor is Paulina Nowicka and my co-supervisors are Nicklas Neuman, Karin Eli, Kajsa Järvholm and Ximena Ramos Salas.

Keywords

  • Childhood obesity
  • Weight stigma
  • Overweight
  • Early childhood

Biography

I have worked on various research projects focusing on both the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity. In 2019, I published my master’s thesis, exploring nurses’ experiences of discussing overweight and obesity with parents in child health care centers. The study showed how the social stigma attached to overweight and obesity can act as a barrier in these conversations, which sparked my interest in further exploring stigma as a phenomenon. In my dissertation, I use both qualitative and quantitative methods.

In addition to research on childhood obesity and weight stigma, I have experience in implementation research, particularly in co-creation and partnership research.

Research

Weight stigma refers to the negative treatment or discrimination directed at individuals due to their body weight. This stigma is pervasive in society, and research on older children, adolescents, and adults demonstrates that such negative treatment can have serious health consequences for those affected. While research on younger children remains limited, evidence suggests that children may experience weight-related bullying as early as primary school, and that negative attitudes toward individuals with larger bodies emerge already during the preschool years. How weight stigma is expressed in the everyday lives of young children living with overweight and obesity, and what social consequences it may have for them, remains unclear. My research aims to fill this gap by exploring the early development of weight stigma, focusing on the home, preschool, and healthcare environments.

My Sjunnestrand

Publications

Recent publications

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Articles in journal

Articles, review/survey

Conference papers

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