Over 24% of women in the United States are over, weight and obesity is more prevalent in vulnerable groups such as Black and Hispanic women. Little is known about the socioeconomic factors, cultural beliefs and practices that may mediate ethnic differences in obesity rates. Although most treatment programs for obesity are failures with high recividism rates, there is growing evidence, similar to data on smoking, that many people lose weight on their own after repeated attempts. Yet little is known about the weight management activities of women over time, particularly Black and Hispanic women who rarely seek treatment. Previous research among Anglo and Black women by the investigator found that women used a complex variety of self-care methods to lose and maintain weight and that these methods were aspects of a five step process of weight management. Having information about methods and factors involved in successful self-management of weight among vulnerable groups of women will assist nurses in planning ethnically relevant health promotion care and serve as the basis for future intervention research. The purposes of this 5 year cross-ethnic community based three phase study are to: 1) explore weight management experiences among Anglo, Black, and Mexican American women; 2) compare patterns and processes of weight management within and between these three ethnic groups; 3) examine patterns and processes of successful weight maintainers; and 4) develop a cross-ethnic nursing model of weight management. This study includes a new sample of 40 Mexican American women and also will expand and supplement two previous studies by the investigator on Anglo and Black women. Phase I uses ethnographic interviewing techniques, and anthropometric measures to explore conditions of weight gain/loss, weight management methods, explanatory models of weight, values about body size and factors influencing weight management. Phase 11 examines differences between and within the three ethnic groups on demographic variables and selected inductively coded categories. Phase Ill has two aspects: 1) the use of ethnographic interviewing techniques to explore methods used by 30 successful weight maintainers, and 2) the synthesis of data from all 3 ethnic groups to develop a cross-ethnic model of the processes of weight management.
| Alcozer, F (2000) Secondary analysis of perceptions and meanings of type 2 diabetes among Mexican American women. Diabetes Educ 26:785-95 |
| Allan, J D (1998) Explanatory models of overweight among African American, Euro-American, and Mexican American women. West J Nurs Res 20:45-66 |
| Tyler, D O; Allan, J D; Alcozer, F R (1997) Weight loss methods used by African American and Euro-American women. Res Nurs Health 20:413-23 |
| Allan, J D (1994) A biomedical and feminist perspective on women's experiences with weight management. West J Nurs Res 16:524-43 |
