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What help do young women want in their efforts to control their weight? Implications for program development.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine women's views on the usefulness of various types of information and practical sessions on weight control, their preferences for program delivery, and likelihood of participation. Cross-sectional survey of 462 women aged 18-33 years randomly selected from the community was conducted. We examined the perceived usefulness of various types of information and practical classes on weight control; preferred mode of delivery; willingness to participate. Among the women 82% were interested in trying to lose or control weight. Information on weight control was considered to be more useful than practical sessions. Information about meal planning, cooking and low-fat recipes and how to manage stress was considered most useful. Fifty-eight per cent of women reported they would prefer to participate in an individual face-to-face program delivered by a health professional. Thirty-one per cent of women reported it was very likely that they would participate in a program if it included the sort of things they considered useful and was offered in the way they preferred; a further 35% felt it 'likely'. It appears that health professional-delivered, individual, information-based programs appear most popular among this target group. Tailoring the content and delivery mode of weight management programs to young women's preferences may enhance program participation.

Key words: individual counselling, preference, tailored intervention.

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the developed world, overweight and obesity are conditions that affect a large and increasing proportion of children and adults across the socioeconomic spectrum. In countries like the USA, Britain, Canada and Australia, as many as one in four children and adolescents and more than half of the adult population carry excess fat that puts them at increased risk for a range of chronic conditions. (1) The costs to the health care system are staggering and are likely to increase significantly given current trends. (2) Although overweight and obesity are recognised as serious health issues that require urgent action, public health authorities currently lack effective strategies to tackle these problems. One of the major public health challenges of the twenty-first century is to develop and implement affordable and sustainable weight control strategies that can impact large segments of the population.

Expert groups have suggested a range of potential approaches to prevent and manage the obesity epidemic. (3-5) These range from individual, family and settings-based strategies to inform and encourage the population to make healthier dietary and physical activity choices, through to strategies aimed at modifying the physical and policy level influences on diet and activity in order to create more supportive environments. Given the extent of the obesity epidemic, the diverse population groups that are affected and the need to both prevent unhealthy weight gain in currently healthy-weight individuals and assist those with an existing weight problem, it seems likely that a combination of different approaches will be required. Regardless of the approaches that are finally adopted to tackle the epidemic, it will be important for public health authorities to have an understanding of the kinds of help the community is seeking in their efforts to control their weight in order to tailor programs to meet community needs and thus maximise participation and retention.

A review of the literature reveals that there has been surprisingly little research that has examined community views on the desirable attributes of weight control programs. There have been only two studies that we could identify from the published literature. In their study of consumer preferences, Sherwood et al. surveyed just over 600 participants aged 20-45 years in their community-based Pound of Prevention Study. (6) They found that among their community volunteers, interest was stronger for mail-based programs than for face-to-face programs. In terms of program content, exercise, stress and eating, recipe cookbooks and dietary assessment were the topics most preferred by the study participants. Similar research with urban dwelling American-Indian women showed that among those interested in losing weight, the features considered the most important were the inclusion...

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