The Effects of Health Behavior Modification Program Among Village Health Volunteers with Abdominal Obesity Thungkraten Sub district, Nongki District, Burirum Province

Abstract

The objective of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effects of a health behavior
modif ification program on village health volunteers with abdominal obesity in Thungkraten subdistrict,
Nongki District, Buriram province. through the application of self-effif icacy theory. The samples were
divided into two groups, each of which consisted of 30 purposively selected people. The study took
12 week for which the experimental group received the weekly health behavior modf ification program.

In the each week, the program consisted of a lecture on knowledge of slides, practice demonstration
of food selection, practice demonstration of aerobic exercise and exercise with a hula hoop,
stress relief by group activities, practice demonstration your recording weight-losing and waistline
daily, giving members the benefits of following a healthy behavior modification guide, positive
presentation and giving encouragement and motivation, giving advice and follow-up visits from
researchers and public health off ificials. On the other hand, the controlled group received regular
health education program. The data were analyzed for descriptive statistics and comparing mean
differences by paired t-test and Independent t-test at 95% significance. After the treatment,
the averaged post-test scores on knowledge about abdominal obesity and losing weight, self-effif icacy
about losing weight, expectation in the result of losing weight, and self-practice for losing weight
and reducing waist circumferences of the experimental group were significantly higher than the
pre-test scores, as well as the post-test scores of the controlled group, at the 0.05 signifif icantly level.
Moreover, the experimental group signifif icantly reduced their body mass index and waist circumferences,
compared to those before treatment and those of the controlled group, at the 0.05 signifif icanly level.
The f ifinding indicated that the health behavior modif ification program was effective for reducing body
mass index and waist circumference among subjects with abdominal obesity.