| Abstrakt: |
Background: Taking preventive measures for overweight individuals who are at risk of developing obesity is an important practice in terms of public health. Aims: This study aimed at assessing the effect of a TTM-based education and follow-up on building exercise behavior in overweight women. Methodology: This pretest-posttest, controlled, semi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of a Transtheoretical Model (TTM) education and follow-up on building exercise behavior in overweight women. The study population consisted of women aged between 20 and 45 who were registered at Sukrupasa Family Healthcare Center and the study sample included 110 overweight (BMI=25-29.9) women, 55 in the experimental group and 55 in the control group, who presented to the center for some reason. The women in the experimental group were given, by way of home visits, an “Education Program” (10 weeks), which was constructed in line with the Transtheoretical Model according to the women’s stages of change, with a follow-up period of 6 months. Results: The difference between the stages of change measured at pretest and posttest was found significant in the experimental group (p<0.001) and 78.1% of the women were able to make improvements in their exercise behavior. After the education and follow-up, the women’s overall mean scores of processes of change, self-efficacy and decisional balance scales for exercise increased and the differences between the groups were found significant. The mean number of daily steps of the experimental group increased while their BMIs decreased (p<0.001). Conclusion: The Transtheoretical Model-based education and follow-up given to overweight women was found to be effective in building their exercise behavior. In view of these results, we can suggest that personal or group educations based on TTM should be provided to this so-called pre-obese group especially by nurses working in primary care in order to prevent obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
