Body Weight Control Strategies among Postpartum Women (II)

Overweight has long been recognized as risk factor for the development of a variety of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers, and its prevalence has risen dramatically. Overweight is a problem for all groups of women than men, especially as they grow older and have babies. For the trend of marriage at a more mature age, the excessive weight retention after pregnancy is increasing in prevalence and needed more public health concerns. However, there is no related literature on this issue in Taiwan. This is a three-year project. The overall purpose of this study is to understand the perception of risk and impact, their strategies and related factors on postpartum body weight retention, and develop interventions and examine the effect of these interventions by promoting healthy lifestyle and decreasing the body weight retention in postpartum women. To explore the perception of risk and impact, their strategies and related factors on postpartum body weight retention, the focus group method, using constant comparative analysis will be used. Comparability of the three randomized groups on baseline variables, analysis of variance and chi-square statistics will be used to test for differences in the distributions of the baseline variables. To address the effect of the interventions, the data will be analyzed using between-within MANOVA. Weight control and promoting healthy lifestyle education is appropriate for all women during pregnancy and postpartum. The results of this study can help obstetrics and community health nurses in Taiwan to individualize their interventions to the specific needs' of the women, thus helping to prevent weight retention and promote healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and postpartum.

Project ID:PC9308-1009
External Project ID:NSC93-2314-B182-079