25 / 58
25
diet. These results suggest that obesity has an important, pervasive, and hitherto overlooked
psychological antecedent.
72
Values and Beliefs about Weight Loss and Obesity
Blixen and associates conducted focus group studies of 10 African American and 10 White
women recruited from the general internal medicine clinics of a large tertiary care facility in
order to learn about values and beliefs about obesity and weight reduction.
73
Six themes were
generated in the discussions over a period of two months (see Table 2). African American
women cited culture-specific barriers to weight loss more so than White women and differed
in their preferences for how healthcare professionals could help them with weight loss.
Table 2 – Differences in Values and Beliefs About Weight Loss and Obesity Between
African American and White Women
73
Theme
Similarities
Differences: African
American Women
Differences: White
Women
Attitudes and
Perceptions of
Weight
• Both groups agreed on distinction
between obesity and overweight.
• Both groups tended to view
themselves as overweight rather
than obese, even though all had
BMI ≥ 30.
Less negative view of
obesity.
More negative view of
obesity.
Areas of Life
Affected by
Weight
Both groups identified self-image,
social life, and ability to engage in
physical activities as areas of life that
were affected by their weight gain.
• Felt a lesser sense of
stigma attached to their
weight.
• Felt that their men “liked
them with some meat on
their bones.”
• Felt a greater sense of
stigma attached to their
weight.
• Felt their weight made
them unattractive to men.
Medical
Knowledge
Related to
Obesity
Both groups were quite aware of the
medical consequences of obesity.
Previous Weight-
Loss Attempts
• Both groups found it easier to lose
weight in the past when they were
younger and had “peer support”
from their school friends.
• Although “appearance” was the
motivator for weight loss efforts
when they were younger, “health”
became the motivator when they
were older.
Barriers to
Successful
Weight Loss
Felt that their culture and
ethnicity, food cravings, and
family strongly influenced
their eating habits.
Cited lack of commitment
and being depressed as
barriers to their weight-loss
efforts.
Help From
Primary Care
Physicians in
Weight Loss
Efforts
Wanted encouragement
and support from their
primary care physicians in
the form of group meetings
with their healthcare team
as well as with other women
struggling to lose weight.
Wanted individual weekly
meetings with their primary
care physicians where they
would be “weighed in” and
told about the “bad things”
that would happen to them
if they didn’t lose weight.