Motivations for Exercise and Weight Loss Among African-American Women: Focus group results and their contribution towards program development

Abstract

This information was used to develop two culturally appropriate interventions for African-American women, which is presented. Conducting formative research in study design protocols can provide an important role in intervention development.

Weight Loss Maintenance in African–American Women: Focus Group Results and Questionnaire Development

“…Most feel that weight loss and weight-promoting behaviors are beneficial to their physical health, mental health, and appearance and that these outcomes are positive. 16,28,30 Other studies suggest that losing too much weight may be viewed as negative 7 or that exercising too much may result in appearing too masculine. 30 The role of subjective norms in African…”

“…They did not perceive foods as good or bad, but felt that almost all foods were acceptable within a balanced diet and an active lifestyle. 16 Both studies were limited by few participants and small numbers of pounds lost. They do not fully explore social factors or facilitators and barriers to weight loss maintenance, nor do they include participants who achieved clinically significant weight loss.…”

Development of Physical Education Model for 7-12th Graders

“…(4) Scale on Social Support: this scale was modified from the questionnaires developed by Cobb (1976), Cobb (1979), Cohen and Wills (1985), Young, Gittelsohn, Charleston, Felix-Aaron, &Appel, 2001, andRobert andAngelo (2001). This scale included 4 dimensions, group support, family support, coaches and teachers, and classmates.…”

“…Such a change is not limited to attitude, but also includes the transformations of behavior and performance, such as regular exercise, physical activity level, and sports participation (Beets, Vogel, Chapman, Pitetti, & Cardinal, 2007;Beets, Vogel, Forlaw, Pitetti, & Cardinal, 2006;Norman & Bente, 1992). To adolescent sports populations, peer participation, as well as obtainment of happiness, praise, and affirmation, are both important factors that stimulate sports participation (Young, Gittelsohn, Charleston, Felix-Aaron, & Appel, 2001;Cobb, 1976). In terms of the sources of social support, parents, teachers, and peers all will affect individuals' sports participation behaviors Nixon, 1984;Norman & Bente, 1992), and the influence of family and (Beets, Vogel,Forlaw, Pitetti, & Cardinal, 2006) professional sports coaches (Bucher and Krotee , 2000) is most important.…”

“…In addition to alleviating stress (Iwasaki, 2006), long-term and regular exercise can also provide good social interaction environment, offer opportunities of making friends and engaging in social interactions (Young, Gittelsohn, Charleston, Felix-Aaron, & Appel, 2001), help learn teamwork and mutual assistance, and improve self-confidence and interpersonal relationship (Cordes & Ibrahim, 2001). Therefore, physical education is imperative to children's physiological, psychological, and social relationship development.…”