Jassil, Friedrich C;
Flint, Stuart W;
Brown, Adrian;
(2025)
Lessons learned from the lived experiences of people living with obesity during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom.
International Journal of Obesity
, 49
(6)
pp. 1173-1180.
10.1038/s41366-025-01763-z.
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Abstract
Background: Quantitative studies have shown that people living with obesity experienced deteriorations in mental health and health-related behaviours during the first UK’s Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) lockdown. However, there is a lack of qualitative research exploring their lived experiences during this period. Methods: Thematic analysis of large-scale free-text survey data was conducted to understand the challenges faced by adults with obesity during the first UK’s COVID-19 lockdown. Results: Among 543 participants, 467 (86%) responded to the free text questions. The majority were female (87.8%), with a mean age of 51.6 (SD 9.9) years. Of these, 65.3% has a body mass index ≥40 kg/m<sup>2</sup>, and 57.7% were not enroled in weight management services. Five overarching themes and 10 sub-themes were identified with the five key themes being (1) increased fear and anxiety, (2) the impact of obesity being classified as ‘high risk’, (3) disruption in weight management services, (4) the impact on health-related behaviours, and (5) the adverse impact on mental health. Participants expressed fear of contracting COVID-19 and concerns about weight gain. UK Government messages linking obesity with severe COVID-19 complications exacerbated feelings of shame and stigma. The reduced provision of weight management services caused further health concerns, highlighting the need for digital health technologies for continued support. Participants reported changes in shopping, diet, physical activity, and sleep patterns, leading to deteriorated mental health. Conclusion: People living with obesity experienced distinct challenges during the first COVID-19 lockdown, affecting their ability to practice and maintain health-related behaviours.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Lessons learned from the lived experiences of people living with obesity during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41366-025-01763-z |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-025-01763-z |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Endocrinology & Metabolism, Nutrition & Dietetics, ADULTS |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210718 |
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