Do health beliefs and behaviors differ according to severity of obesity? A qualitative study of Australian adults

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Volumn 7, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 443-459

  Lewis, Sophie ^a   Thomas, Samantha L ^a   Warwick Blood, R Warwick ^b   Hyde, Jim ^c,d   Castle, David J ^e   Komesaroff, Paul A ^f  

^a MONASH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA   (Australia)

^c Victorian Department of Health   (Australia)

^d DEAKIN UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^e UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE   (Australia)

^f MONASH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Consumer perspective; Health behaviors; Health beliefs; Obesity; Public health; Qualitative research; Stigma

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; AUSTRALIA; BEHAVIOR CHANGE; DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH; DISEASE SEVERITY; FEMALE; HEALTH BEHAVIOR; HEALTH BELIEF; HUMAN; INTERVIEW; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALE; OBESITY; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY; STEREOTYPY; STIGMA; WEIGHT REDUCTION; MIDDLE AGED; PATHOPHYSIOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGY; SEVERITY OF ILLNESS INDEX; STEREOTYPING;

ADULT; AGED; AUSTRALIA; FEMALE; HEALTH BEHAVIOR; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; OBESITY; SEVERITY OF ILLNESS INDEX; STEREOTYPING;

EID: 77949745718     PISSN: None     EISSN: 16604601     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph7020443     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases; World Health Organisation: Geneva, Switzerland, 2003.
2. Overweight and Obesity; Australian Bureau of Statistics: Canberra, Australia, 2007.
3. Walls, H.L.; Wolfe, R.; Haby, M.M.; Magliano, D.J.; de Courten, M.; Reid, C.M.; McNeil, J.J.; Shaw, J.; Peeters, A. Trends in BMI of urban Australian adults, 1980-2000. Public Health Nutr. 2009, 1-8. [epub ahead of print].
4. Sturm, R. Increases in morbid obesity in the USA: 2000-2005. Public Health 2007, 121, 492-496.
5. Katzmarzyk, P.T.; Mason, C. Prevalence of class I, II and III obesity in Canada. CMAJ 2006, 174, 156-157.
6. Freedman, D.S.; Khan, L.K.; Serdula, M.K.; Galuska, D.A.; Dietz, W.H. Trends and correlates of class 3 obesity in the United States from 1990 through 2000. JAMA 2002, 288, 1758-1761.
7. Hensrud, D.D.; Klein, S. Extreme obesity: A new medical crisis in the United States. Mayo Clinic Proceed. 2006, 81, S5-S10.
8. Arterburn, D.E.; Maciejewski, M.L.; Tsevat, J. Impact of morbid obesity on medical expenditures in adults. Int. J. Obes. (Lond.) 2005, 29, 334-339.
9. Brown, W.V.; Fujioka, K.; Wilson, P.W.F.; Woodworth, K. Obesity: why be concerned? Am. J. Med. 2009, 122, S4-11.
10. Atlantis, E.; Baker, M. Obesity effects on depression: systematic review of epidemiological studies. Int. J. Obes. 2008, 32, 881-891.
11. Petry, N.M.; Barry, D.; Pietrzak, R.H.; Wagner, J.A. Overweight and obesity are associated with psychiatric disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Psychosom. Med. 2008, 70, 288-297.
12. McTigue, K.; Larson, J.C.; Valoski, A.; Burke, G.; Kotchen, J.; Lewis, C.E.; Stefanick, M.L.; Van Horn, L.; Kuller, L. Mortality and cardiac and vascular outcomes in extremely obese women. JAMA 2006, 296, 79-86.
13. Onyike, C.U.; Crum, R.M.; Lee, H.B.; Lyketsos, C.G.; Eaton, W.W. Is obesity associated with major depression? Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2003, 158, 1139-1147.
14. Cancer Council of Victoria. How much will being overweight increase your chances of getting cancer? Available online: http://www.cancervic.org.au/ preventing-cancer/weight/ obesity-prevention-camp (accessed on November 20, 2009).
15. Diabetes Australia National Diabetes Awareness Campaign: Type 2 diabetes often runs in families. Reduce your waist, reduce your risk. Available online: http://www.diabetesvic.org.au/ Default.aspx?tabid=239 (accessed on November 20, 2009).
16. Diabetes Australia National Diabetes Awareness Campaign: Diabetes: Its time you opened your eyes to the risk. Available online: http://www.diabetesvic. org.au/Default.aspx?tabid=239 (accessed on November 20, 2009).
17. Australian Better Health Initiative: Measure Up. Available online: http://www.health.gov.au/ internet/abhi/publishing.nsf/Content/ About+the+campaign-lp (accessed on December 4, 2009).
18. Syme, S.L. Historical perspective: The social determinants of disease-some roots of the movement. Epidemiol. Perspect. Innov. 2005, 2, 2.
19. Donath, S. Who's overweight? Comparison of the medical definition and community views. MJA 2000, 172, 375-377.
20. Paeratakul, S.; White, M.A.; Williamson, D.A.; Ryan, D.H.; Bray, G.A. Sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and BMI in relation to self-perception of overweight. Obes. Res. 2002, 10, 345-350.
21. Jones, M.; Grilo, C.M.; Masheb, R.M.; White, M.A. Psychological and behavioral correlates of excess weight: Misperception of obese status among persons with class II obesity. Int. J. Eat. Disord. 2009. [epub ahead of print].
22. Gregory, C.O.; Blanck, H.M.; Gillespie, C.; Maynard, L.M.; Serdula, M.K. Perceived health risk of excess body weight among overweight and obese men and women: differences by sex. Prev. Med. 2008, 47, 46-52.
23. Falba, T.A.; Busch, S.H. Survival expectations of the obese: Is excess mortality reflected in perceptions? Obes. Res. 2005, 13, 754-761.
24. Kuchler, F.; Variyam, J.N. Mistakes were made: misperception as a barrier to reducing overweight. Int. J. Obes. Relat. Metab. Disord. 2003, 27, 856-861.
25. Gregory, C.O.; Blanck, H.M.; Gillespie, C.; Maynard, L.; Serdula, M.K. Health perceptions and demographic characteristics associated with underassessment of body weight. Obesity 2008, 16, 979-986.
26. Janz, N.K.; Becker, M.H. The health belief model: a decade later. Health. Educ. Q. 1984, 11, 1-47.
27. Thomas, S.; Hyde, J.; Karunaratne, A.; Herbert, D.; Komesaroff, P. Being 'fat' in today's world: a qualitative study of the lived experiences of people with obesity in Australia. Health. Expect. 2008, 11, 321-330.
28. Thomas, S.; Hyde, J.; Karunaratne, A.; Kausman, R.; Komesaroff, P. "They all work...when you stick to them": A qualitative investigation of dieting, weight loss, and physical exercise in obese individuals. Nutr. J. 2008, 7, 34.
29. Denzin, N.K.; Lincoln, Y.S. The Handbook of Qualitative Research; Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, 2000.
30. Mason, J. Qualitative Researching; Sage Publications: London, UK, 1996.
31. Glaser, B.; Strauss, A. The Discovery of Grounded Theory; Aldine: Chicago, IL, USA, 1967.
32. Strauss, A.; Corbin, J. Basics of Qualitative Research-Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory; Sage Publications: London, UK, 1998.
33. Wadden, T.A.; Didie, E. What's in a name? Patients? preferred terms for describing obesity. Obes. Res. 2003, 11, 1140-1146.
34. Puhl, R.; Brownell, K.D. Ways of coping with obesity stigma: review and conceptual analysis. Eating Behaviors 2003, 4, 53-78.
35. Wang, S.; Brownell, K.; Wadden, T. The influence of the stigma of obesity on overweight individuals. Int. J. Obes. 2004, 28, 1333-1337.
36. Rudman, L.; Feinberg, J.; Fairchild, K. Minority members' implicit attitudes: automatic ingroup bias as a function of group status. Soc. Cogn. 2002, 20, 294-320.
37. Puhl, R.M.; Moss-Racusin, C.A.; Schwartz, M.B. Internalization of weight bias: Implications for binge eating and emotional well-being. Obesity 2007, 15, 19-23.
38. Puhl, R.M.; Brownell, K.D. Confronting and coping with weight stigma: An investigation of overweight and obese adults. Obesity 2006, 14, 1802-1815.
39. Greiner, K.A.; Born, W.; Hall, S.; Hou, Q.; Kimminau, K.S.; Ahluwalia, J.S. Discussing weight with obese primary care patients: physician and patient perceptions. J. Gen. Intern. Med. 2008, 23, 581-587.
40. Befort, C.A.; Greiner, K.A.; Hall, S.; Pulvers, K.M.; Nollen, N.L.; Charbonneau, A.; Kaur, H.; Ahluwalia, J.S. Weight-related perceptions among patients and physicians: how well do physicians judge patients' motivation to lose weight? J. Gen. Intern. Med. 2006, 21, 1086-1090.
41. Kausman, R.; Bruere, T. If not dieting, now what? Aust. Fam. Physician 2006, 35, 572-575.
42. Ferrante, J.M.; Piasecki, A.K.; Ohman-Strickland, P.A.; Crabtree, B.F. Family physicians' practices and attitudes regarding care of extremely obese patients. Obesity 2009, 17, 1710-1716.
43. Jay, M.; Kalet, A.; Ark, T.; McMacken, M.; Messito, M.J.; Richter, R.; Schlair, S.; Sherman, S.; Zabar, S.; Gillespie, C. Physicians' attitudes about obesity and their associations with competency and specialty: a cross-sectional study. BMC Health Serv. Res. 2009, 9, 106.
44. Barry, C.L.; Brescoll, V.L.; Brownell, K.D.; Schlesinger, M. Obesity metaphors: how beliefs about the causes of obesity affect support for public policy. Milbank Q. 2009, 87, 7-47.
45. Sontag, S. AIDS and Its Metaphors; Farrar, Straus & Giroux: New York, NY, USA, 1989.