Perceptions of Obesity and Overweight: A Qualitative Study

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar VI
  In Scholar to Scholar Session: Serving and understanding patients better through interpersonal and mediated communication

Abstract

This research used two focus groups to investigate participants’ perceptions of obesity, factors that motivate people to lose weight, and strategies for losing weight. Results suggest that communication campaign planners should develop messages that: (1) are tailored to the intended audience’s socio-economic status and educational attainment; (2) address how to cope with psychological factors rarely addressed by the literature; and (3) confront cultural acceptance of the positive value of large meals, large servings and desserts.

Authors

• James Kiwanuka-Tondo, North Carolina State University

• Natalie Ames, North Carolina State University

• Lei Zeng, North Carolina State University