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 overweight, working women? and RQ6: What are the barriers to weight maintenance and loss for overweight, working women? Data analysis revealed Weight Management as a Lifestyle depicted through six themes: Theme 1: Beyond a Number on the Scale, included participants descriptions of different body weights in relation to self and others. Theme 2: A Matter of Time, Effort, and Commitment, focused on women’s perceptions of effort and weight management strategies. Theme 3: Calories in Versus Calories Out, contained details about behaviors and negative environmental, social, psychological influences that contributed to weight gain. Theme 4: Iteration to Automaticity: Journey from Behavior to Habit to Lifestyle, described personal motivations, mindsets, behaviors, and influential factors that promoted weight maintenance or loss in overweight, working women. Theme 5: Programs, Interventions, Techniques, and Support delineated preferred methods of weight maintenance or loss. Theme 6, Roadblocks: Life and Work encompassed physiological conditions, financial, knowledge, and time constrains, along with environmental and psychosocial barriers to working women’s engagement in healthy weight-related behaviors. Findings from this study provided foundational knowledge about overweight working women’s perspectives on body weight, perceived benefits of and barriers to healthy behaviors, environmental and psychosocial factors that influenced weight-related behaviors and preferred methods of weight control. Insights may help inform future development of employer-sponsored weight management programs for working women.