A Study on Obese Female College Students' Weight Control Experiences / 여성건강간호학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study attempted to show the implications of obese female college students' weight control experiences and to use this as primary data for developing a nursing intervention. METHOD: The participants were 7 obese students who had tried losing weight at C College on Jeju Island. Their average age was 22 and BMI was 25.6kg/m (2) on average. The data were collected from May 17th to July 6th 2004, and in-depth interviews were conducted with open-ended questions. RESULT: The analysis was conducted by Colaizzi's phenomenological method, and the analyzed results were categorized into 9 criteria, 22 theme clusters and 50 themes. The 9 criteria include withdrawal, desperation, self-restraint, relief, satisfaction, distraction, depression, regaining self-control and negligence of health. They tended to go through a weight gain loss cycle in a repetitive manner, and were faced with great physical and mental difficulties. In addition, they often went on a severely-strict diet without taking their health condition into consideration, which, in effect, causes various health problems. CONCLUSION: This study gives insights into the weight control experiences of obese female college students, and it shows developing more practical and effective nursing interventions are urgently needed.