Chronic condition drives award-winning researcher
After decades of unanswered questions about her chronic condition, a CQUniversity psychology researcher has earned a national award for the novel contributions her research has made to understanding life with lipoedema.
Chantelle Clarke says experiencing lipoedema since she was a teen has given her unique insight into the psychological impacts of the condition, and prompted her research into a world-first ‘compassion intervention’ to improve mental and physical health.
Lipoedema is an often-undetected or misunderstood condition which causes a painful build-up of diseased fat in legs and arms.
An estimated 11 per cent of women live with the condition globally, but medical practitioners frequently misdiagnose patients as being overweight.
The Cairns-based researcher and educator at CQU’s NeuroHealth Lab explains this explains that this confusion can trigger self-criticism and shame, which in turn harms mental health.
In August, Lipoedema Australia presented Ms Clarke with the Carla Daly Award, a biennial honour recognising research that significantly advances understanding and management of lipoedema.
She said the award was welcome recognition for growing scientific understanding about lipoedema, when it had been neglected for so long.
“I was diagnosed in 2019, just before I was about to start my PhD… and when I started looking at the research about the condition, there wasn’t barely anything out there. Not the physical, or the mental, or any of it!”
“Instead, women living with the condition were turning to Facebook groups and chatrooms to try and understand lipoedema, and being in those conversations, there was just so much distress and frustration about what was going on with their bodies.”
Ms Clarke quickly pivoted her research focus from nutrition to lipoedema, and has spent the past five years studying the experiences of more than 2000 women living with the condition.
She received the award at the Lipoedema Australia Conference, where she also presented her findings, assessing experiences of weight stigma.
“Often because of misdiagnosis of overweight or obesity, from the start of their healthcare journey, lipoedema sufferers can feel judgement and shame,” Ms Clarke explained.
“Our research found that those who experienced increased weight stigma, and who had internalised weight bias – that is, negative attitudes and beliefs about people who are perceived as ‘overweight’ – were more likely to develop increased symptoms of depression.
Ms Clarke said delivering online compassion focussed skills for women has been a great pilot trial and we are providing evidence of how Australian women can learn compassionate skills to ease their distress.
Her primary research supervisor and co-author is Professor Talitha Best, founder and head of the NeuroHealth Lab at CQU’s Appleton Institute. Her secondary supervisor and co-author is Dr James Kirby, co-director of the Compassionate Mind Research Group at the University of Queensland.
Their findings have been published in the journals Quality of Life Research and Clinical Obesity.
