EMBODY

About

EMBODY:
EMBodied PsychOsocial impacts of weight stigma During pregnancY

EMBODY seeks to understand how pregnancy care experiences of women with different body sizes relate to maternal and infant outcomes. It explores the role of physical, emotional and social factors in these relationships. It is a world first prospective cohort study on maternal weight stigma.

Decisions made by maternity care professionals can be based on multiple factors such as body weight, size, or body mass index (BMI). These decisions can shape pregnancy care in different ways, which may be associated with the health and wellbeing of mothers and their babies.

This project is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant awarded to Dr Briony Hill and is being conducted in collaboration with the Body Positive Birth Alliance.

Visit the Body Positive Birth Alliance

Lived Experience Involvement

A Consumer Guidance Group (CGG) was established at the study conception phase. The CGG is composed of three women with recent (last five years) experience of weight stigma in pregnancy. The CGG provided input into the conceptualisation and design of the study and will continue to provide input into various aspects of study implementation and output, including a study dissemination plan and recognition on study outputs.

Renee

"For many women, weight stigma during pregnancy is experienced quietly and alone. By centring women’s real experiences, rather than assumptions, EMBODY has the potential to change the narrative around body size in maternity care."

Ahlia

"Being able to share my experiences in spaces like this is so powerful in reclaiming my birthing experiencing and how this can be made better for other women, just like me."

Tina

"Having navigated weight-related policies in my pregnancies, I believe that EMBODY can drive meaningful change toward more supportive maternity care."

How to get involved

**Announcement July 1, 2026: Recruitment has not yet commenced – check back soon or get in touch to find out more.**

EMBODY will recruit women booked in to give birth at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital (AWCH).

If you are between 10 and 22 weeks’ gestation and plan to give birth at one of these hospitals, please contact us to receive a full Participant Information Sheet and further information about taking part.

Check out the Project Details tab for more information about what’s involved and to check your eligibility.

EMBODY project details

EMBODY is a prospective cohort study, that will recruit 800 pregnant women through the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Inclusion criteria:

Women pregnant with a singleton between 10 and 22 weeks’ gestation
18 years or older
Booked to be cared for at a participating hospital
Can complete consent and study questionnaires in English
Access to the Internet to complete the surveys
Consent to the extraction of hospital electronic medical record data about herself and her baby as relevant to the study

Participants will be invited to complete questionnaires at 20-22 weeks’, 29-31 weeks’ and 35-37 weeks’ gestation and again at six weeks postpartum. Questionnaires will include items relating to demographic factors, pregnancy, weight stigma, medication and supplement use, mental and psychosocial health, history of trauma, access to labour pain relief, and pregnancy outcomes such as gestational diabetes. The research team will also collect some information from electronic medical records.

All questionnaires will be completed online. No interventions are provided. Standard pregnancy care is received as usual through the hospital. The total commitment to the study by participants is approximately two hours.

Using the information provided in the four questionnaires, the EMBODY team will conduct analyses to answer a range of pre-specified and exploratory questions about weight, body size, weight stigma, psychosocial factors, and pregnancy outcomes. The specific aims of the study are to:

Explore weight stigma as a mediator of the association between BMI ≥30 kg/m² and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including the primary outcome of gestational diabetes and secondary outcomes of induction of labour, mode of birth, gestational hypertension, infant birth weight, and establishment of exclusive breastfeeding by six weeks postpartum; and
Explore factors not previously considered such as weight cycling, trauma, internalised weight bias, body image concerns, eating disorders, and psychological distress as mediators in the relationship between obesity and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

The cohort registration can be accessed via clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06531694).

Full ethical and site approvals will be obtained from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Adelaide, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and Monash University.