Experiences of barriers and facilitators to weight-loss in a diet intervention - a qualitative study of women in Northern Sweden

BMC Women's Health

Research Article

Christel Larsson¹  Bernt Lindahl²  Anne Hammarström³  Anncristine Fjellman Wiklund⁴  Christina Ahlgren⁴ 

[1] Department of Food and Nutrition, and Sport Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden;Department of Food and Nutrition, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;Umeå Centre for Gender Studies in Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;Umeå Centre for Gender Studies in Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;

关键词: Behavior change;    Weight management;    Obesity/overweight;    Intervention programmes;    Gender;    Qualitative analysis;    Health behavior;    Women’s health/midlife;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6874-14-59

 received in 2013-08-15, accepted in 2014-03-14,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThere is a lack of research about the experiences of participating in weight-reducing interventions. The aim of this study was to explore barriers and facilitators to weight-loss experienced by participants in a diet intervention for middle-aged to older women in the general population in Northern Sweden.MethodIn the intervention the women were randomised to eat either a Palaeolithic-type diet or a diet according to Nordic Nutrition recommendations for 24 months. A strategic selection was made of women from the two intervention groups as well as from the drop-outs in relation to social class, civil status and age. Thematic structured interviews were performed with twelve women and analysed with qualitative content analyses.ResultsThe results showed that the women in the dietary intervention experienced two main barriers – struggling with self (related to difficulties in changing food habits, health problems, lack of self-control and insecurity) and struggling with implementing the diet (related to social relations and project-related difficulties) – and two main facilitators– striving for self-determination (related to having clear goals) and receiving support (from family/friends as well as from the project) – for weight-loss. There was a greater emphasis on barriers than on facilitators.ConclusionIt is important to also include drop-outs from diet interventions in order to fully understand barriers to weight-loss. A gender-relational approach can bring new insights into understanding experiences of barriers to weight-loss.Trial registrationClinicalTrials gov NCT00692536.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Hammarström et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014