A Study on Obese Female College Students' Weight Control Experiences

Hwang, Yun Young

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.