KayLoni Olson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Alpert Brown Medical School and Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center of The Miriam Hospital. Her research is focused on identifying factors that impact health and well-being among individuals of higher body weight and adapting evidence-based treatments to optimize health outcomes. She is particularly interested in psychosocial factors such as body image and weight-related stigma that impact health among individuals of higher body weight and impact outcomes within evidence-based weight management programs. Her work relies on translational models (ORBIT) and integrates various types of methodology (ecological momentary assessment, mixed methodology). She is dedicated to continuous learning to ensure her work is inclusive and accessible. Her current lines of work are focused on the following:
1) Adapting an evidence-based body image intervention to address high weight and shape concern (a facet of negative body image) among adult women of higher body weight who want to lose weight. Guided by the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBIT) model, she iteratively refined the Body Project intervention using mixed methodology. The adapted program is currently being tested in a randomized trial against a time and social contact control condition, followed by an evidence-based behavioral weight loss program.
2) Investigating the impact of acceptance-based strategies on the the experience of starting an exercising program among individuals of higher body weight, who are insufficiently active and report a high degree of internalized weight bias. This study integrates laboratory methods to assess physical activity with actigraphy and ecological momentary assessment to assess physical activity in daily life.
3) Identifying novel targets to prevent and treat chronic pain among individuals of higher body weight. Much of this work has focused on exploring weight-related discrimination and internalized weight bias as mechanisms linking high body weight to pain, along with critically considered the role of weight loss treatment in management of chronic pain for individuals of higher body weight.
