INTRODUCTION:

Obesity results when too much fat accumulates in the body. It now recognized as a serious medical problem, affects about 30% of adults. It may be caused by number of social, cultural, behavior, physiological metabolic and genetic factors that are beyond the person control. Symptoms usually show up in the form of breathing trouble, excess accumulation of fat, insulin resistance, increase in size or number of fact cells that rise in blood pressure, high cholesterol levels etc.¹

The National Institute of Health (NIH) consensus panel on obesity, defines obesity is a body mass index or BMI. BMI is a number calculated by dividing weight in Kg by height in meters square. BMI between 25-30 kg/m² indicates overweight while BMI >30 kg/m² indicates obesity.²In every region of the world, obesity doubled between 1980 and 2008,” says Dr Ties Boerma, Director of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at WHO. “Today, half a billion people (12% of the world’s population) are considered obese.” The highest obesity levels are in the WHO Region of the Americas (26% of adults) and the lowest in the WHO South-East Asia Region (3% obese).^3,4Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in India in the 21^st century affecting 5% of countries population. Unhealthy, processed food has become much more accessible following India’s continued integration in global food markets. Indians are genetically susceptible to weight accumulation especially around waist. According to national family health survey states of Indian ranked in order of percentage of people who are overweight or obese. Punjab: 30.5% males, 37.5% females taking first place. Kerala: Males 24.3%, females 34%, Goa: Males 20.8%, females 27%, Tamilnadu: Males 19.8%, females 24.4%, Gujarat: males 15.4%, females 17.7%. Karnataka takes 12^th place male’s 14% females 17.3%. As per ranking in India, Karnataka takes 12^th place in males and 9^th place in females. India is on 14 ranks in male obesity and 15 rank for female obesity.⁵

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Obesity has emerged as the most prevalent serious public health problem of our country. Obesity is increasing throughout the world. At present it is estimated that there are more than 250 million people worldwide are affected by obesity equivalent to 7% of young adult population.⁶

Indians are genetically susceptible to weight accumulation especially around the waist and 5% of the population suffers due to obesity in India. An epidemiological survey in 2007 revealed that by 2010 it will reach to 17.5% of the population. Adults taking predominant place that adolescents and children by 63%. If this incidence rises it will be more of health burden to the country. ⁷Obesity increases the risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke and deep vein thrombosis. It is also risk for diabetes 2, cancer, respiratory problems, and gastrointestinal disease. The national institute of mental health convened a meeting in October 2005 to review the literature on obesity, nutrition and physical activity among those with mental disorders. Levels of obesity are higher in those with schizophrenia and depression as is mortality from obesity related conditions such as CAD. Proper interventions are to be taken for the increasing prevalence of obesity.⁸With the view of the above, we felt that, it would be beneficial if study is conducted to assess the knowledge of adults regarding obesity and give health education regarding obesity. It is also anticipated that this study may increase knowledge among adults regarding obesity. All these factorial evidences has witnessed that obesity among adults which leads to danger consequences, all this created interest in us to conduct study regarding obesity and there is urgent need of health education to adults regarding obesity.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

· Assess the pre-existing level of knowledge regarding obesity among adults residing at Waghodia taluka by pre-test.

· Plan and administer the structured health education programme.

· Determine the effectiveness of structured health education programme regarding obesity among adults residing at Waghodia taluka.

· Find out the association between pre- test knowledge score of adults regarding obesity with their selected demographic variables.

Hypothesis:

H₁: The mean post- test score will be significantly higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score regarding obesity.

H₂: There will be significant association between mean pre-test outcome score with selected demographic variables regarding obesity.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Research Design:

One group pre-test, post-test research design, which belongs to pre-experimental design, was selected for this study.

Setting:

The study was conducted in Waghodia taluka.

Population:

Accessible population for this study includes adults between 18 to 59 age groups (males and female) in Waghodia taluka.

Sample:

Selected 60 samples from Waghodia taluka.

Sampling Technique:

The samples were selected for this study by non-probability purposive sampling techniques.

Data analysis:

The demographic variables were organized by using descriptive measures (frequency and percentage).The association between the level of knowledge and the selected demographic variables were assessed by Chi-square test.

Findings:

Results of Demographic Characteristics:

18(30%) respondents belongs to age group of 31 to 40 years, 16 (26.7%) respondents belongs to the age group of 41 to 50 years, 15 (25%) respondents belongs to the age group of 18 to 30 years and 11 (18.3%) respondents belongs to the age group of 51 to 59 years. 33 (55 %) respondents were male and 27 (45 %) female. 34 (56.7%) respondents were Hindu, 25 (41.7%) respondents are Muslims and 1 (1.7 %) Christian. 28 (46.7%) respondents have primary education, 18 (30%) respondents have higher secondary education and 14 (23.3%) respondents have graduation. 55 (91.7%) respondents have no presence of any disease condition and 5 (8.3%) have presence of disease condition. 19 (31.7%) respondents have income between Rs.5000 to Rs.10, 000, 16 (26.7%) have income between Rs.10, 000 to Rs.15, 000, 15 (25%) have income more than Rs.15, 000 and 10 (16.7%) respondents have income less than Rs.5000.

Knowledge Level of Adults Regarding Obesity:

Pre test knowledge level score shows that 37 (61.7%) respondents have moderately adequate knowledge, 17 (28.3%) have inadequate knowledge and 6 (10%) have adequate knowledge. Post test knowledge score after administration of structured health education programme show that 35 (58.3%) respondents have moderately adequate knowledge were 25 (41.7%) have adequate knowledge.

Evaluate the Effectiveness of Structured Health Education Programme:

The post test mean knowledge score (13.75) is significantly greater than the pre test mean knowledge score (19.80). The “t” value 19.730 is significant at 0.001 levels. So statistically prove that there was significant difference in knowledge scores among adults residing at Waghodia taluka. Thus H₁is accepted. So, structured health education programme was an effective teaching strategy to improve the knowledge level regarding obesity.

Association Between Pre-Test Knowledge Scores Regarding Obesity with their Socio-Demographical Variables.

Among all the selected demographical variables: religion (χ²= 14.542), education (χ²= 36.023), income (χ²= 24.822), family history of obesity (χ²= 3.981) and information related obesity (χ²= 26.559) showed significant at 0.001level of significance. It is interpreted that there is a significant association between knowledge scores adults regarding obesity with religion, education, income, family history of obesity and information related obesity. Were demographical variables such as age (χ²= 7.064), gender (χ²= 1.58) and presence of any disease condition (χ²= 0.81) showed no significant association between knowledge score of adults regarding obesity.

CONCLUSION:

The present study assessed the knowledge regarding obesity among adults residing at Waghodia taluka and found that the majority of adults had inadequate knowledge related to obesity. After structured health education programme on obesity there was significant improvement on knowledge of the adults regarding obesity. The study concluded that the structured health education programme was effective in improving knowledge of adults regarding obesity.

REFERENCES:

1. Jeanette Pollock: An introduction to obesity 2006 Oct. (2009 May 3rd). Available from http://www.ezinearticles.com/? An-introduction – To – Obesity = 322540.

2. S N Chaugh “medicine” 2nd edition Arya publication page-722.

3. World Health Statistics 2012. Health. India. Com. 2012 September29. Available from: http://health.india.com/news/world-health-statistics-2012-one-in-six-adults-obese-one-in-t.

4. Wikipedia contributors. Obesity in India. Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia; 2016 Feb. 24, [cited 2016 mar 26]. Available from: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/obesity_in_india?_e_pi=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C1623222698

5. Mithu Bhadra, Ashish Mukopadhayaya and Kushik Bose. Over weight and obesity among adult 2008 Apr [2009 May 3]. Available from http://www.krepublisher.com.

6. Epidemiological survey [Author unknown]. Obesity rates getting higher 2007 June [2009 May 15]; available from: http://www.obeseliving.com/obseity-rates-in-india-gettinghigher.

7. Allison DB, New Comes JW Dunn AL, Blumenthal JA. Obesity among those with mental disorders; a national institute of medical health meeting report. 2009 Jan [2009 May 7]; 36(4):341-50. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmid19285199.

8. Narkar Hiral Bharatkumar and Suresh V (2015). A pre experimental study to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding anorexia nervosa among adolescent girls in selected school of Vadodara city. International journal of psychiatric nursing, vol. 1, page number 30-37. Available from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283868566_A_Pre_Experimental_Study_to_Assess_the_Effectiveness_of_Structured_Teaching_Programme_on_Knowledge_Regarding_Anorexia_Nervosa_among_Adolescent_Girls_in_Selected_School_of_Vadodara_City

Received on 27.07.2016 Modified on 03.08.2016

Int. J. Adv. Nur. Management. 2016; 4(4): 372-374.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2652.2016.00083.4