Angela Meadows

School of Psychology
Doctoral Researcher

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 2854
Email: axm583@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Title of PhD: Internalised weight stigma and quality of life in overweight and obese individuals

Angela is interested in how experienced and internalised weight stigma impact on heavier individuals’ health behaviours, and their overall health and wellbeing. In 2013, she organised the first International Weight Stigma Conference, which was held at the University of Birmingham and attracted over 100 participants and speakers from around the world. Now in its third year, the 2015 event will be held in Reykjavik, Iceland on Sept 18-19. For more information, visit www.stigmaconference.com.

She is also interested in people’s perceptions of themselves as being addicted to certain foods, such as chocolate or crisps, and whether self-perceived food addiction is mediated by the effects of societal anti-fat bias and weight-loss dieting, rather than by the pleasure and reward pathways as in most clinical addictions.

Qualifications

MSc Weight Management
PGDip Science Communication
BSc Biological Sciences

Biography

Angela has a first class BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Wollongong, Australia, and a Masters in Weight Management from the University of Chester. She completed her thesis on the relationship between weight-loss dieting and food cravings. She has worked as a medical writer, an editor of medical journals, and as a systematic reviewer for the Evidence Synthesis Team within the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Birmingham.

She has a Postgraduate Diploma in Science Communication from Birkbeck College, University of London, and is passionate about bringing science to the non-scientific lay public.

She blogs about weight stigma and obesity science and is a contributor to a number of sites, including Huffington Post UK, and is frequently interviewed for press and television stories on these subjects.

She is a practitioner of Health At Every Size (HAES)®, a member of HAES UK and the Association of Size Diversity and Health, and has spoken about HAES and weight science at national and international seminars. She is also a qualified personal trainer and pilates instructor and, in a previous existence, delivered nutrition and exercise programmes within an NHS setting.

Research

Weight stigma, eating self-efficacy, food addiction, Health At Every Size®

Publications

Meadows A. (2014) Fat and fit: possible, probable, protective? In R Chastain (ed) The politics of size: perspectives from the Fat-Acceptance Movement. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-Clio. [Book chapter]

Meadows A. Contributor:Encyclopedia of Exercise & Physical Fitness. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publications Group. In preparation.

Meadows & S. Higgs. I think, therefore I am? Characteristics of a non-clinical population of self-perceived food addicts. Appetite 2013 (71: 482). Abstract presented at 37^th Annual Meeting of the British Feeding and Drinking Group, April 4^th-5^th 2013, Loughborough, UK.

Meadows A, Kaambwa B, Novielli N, Huissoon A, Fry-Smith A, Meads C, Barton P, Dretzke J. A systematic review and economic evaluation of subcutaneous and sublingual allergen immunotherapy in adults and children with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Health Technology Assessment. 2013 Jul;17(27):vi, xi-xiv, 1-322.

Dretzke J, Meadows A, Novielli N, Huissoon A, Fry-Smith A, Meads C. Subcutaneous and sublingual immunotherapy for seasonal allergic rhinitis: a systematic review and indirect comparison. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2013 May;131(5):1361-6.

External presentations

November 2014: Sticks and stones: The association between weight discrimination and physical and mental wellbeing. American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA

HAES UK, Nov 5th 2012. Why your back fat and bingo wings aren’t going to kill you anytime soon: debunking the obesity science dogma.

I think, therefore I am? Characteristics of a non-clinical population of self-perceived food addicts. Association for Size Diversity and Health, June 29^th 2013, Baltimore MD.