Organizing concept: Marginalization and the selected properties of voice, economics, differentiation, seduction, secrecy, intermediacy, and reflectiveness.

Methods: A critical review of the nursing literature on the health care of obese women, the medical and socio-cultural perspectives of obesity, and the literature on marginalization of women.

Findings: Obese women are marginalized in the United States by socially constructed, negative attitudes towards obesity that can compromise health care. Obese women are more likely to delay health care, particularly gynecological exams, than normal weight women.

Conclusions: Application of the concept and selected properties demonstrate the negative impact on the health care of a population not previously examined as marginalized. Marginalizing health care experiences can negatively reinforce obese women's health care avoidance behavior and contribute to health risks associated with obesity.

Implications: The use of nursing theoretical frameworks that embrace the properties of marginalization in research will contribute to nursing knowledge that informs practice through a deeper understanding of the context of obese women's health care experiences.

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Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004