Weighing In: Overweight, Working Women's Descriptions of Body Weight and Weight Management

Abstract

Obesity is a growing public health concern associated with poor health outcomes, increased healthcare costs, and decreased human productivity. Women are inordinately impacted by obesity. The insidious nature of weight gain and the numerous factors (e.g., environmental, psychological, and socioeconomic) that contribute to obesity make it a complex problem to address. While government healthcare policies and initiatives focus on treating obesity to prevent secondary chronic conditions, few robust public efforts are dedicated to the prevention of obesity in adults. Some employers have responded to the need for obesity prevention with an increase in employer-sponsored weight management programs, yet program success has been inconsistent. While comprehensive individualized programs are among the most effective programs, they are also the costliest to implement across populations. Understanding body weight and weight management from the perspective of population subsets may facilitate more affordable, tailored approaches to designing effective weight management programs to prevent obesity. However, there is little information available about overweight working women's perspectives of body weight and weight management. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study, guided by Pender's health promotion model, was to examine overweight working women's perceptions and experiences with body weight and weight management. Eleven overweight working women aged 18 years or older who had attempted weight loss volunteered for individual, semi-structured interviews. The interview data were analyzed using deductive content analysis to answer six research questions (RQs): RQ1: How do overweight, working women describe body weight? RQ2: What are overweight, working women's experiences of weight management? RQ3 What factors contribute to weight gain according to overweight, working women? RQ4 What factors promote weight maintenance and loss in overweight, working women? RQ5: What weight maintenance and loss methods are preferred by ...