The Effects of Dietary and Exercise Self-Regulation Program on Dietary and Exercise Behavior and Body Weight of Obese Students
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study was aimed to examine the effects of self-regulation program for dietary and exercise on Prince of Songkla University obese students’ dietary, exercise behavior, and body weight. It is one group pretest-posttest design of quasi-experimental design. Bandura’s self-regulation theory was used for the conception of this study. The purposive sample of 43 people were 1st year–3rd year undergraduates with body mass index over 25 kg/squarmetre of Prince of Songkla University. The program lasted for 12 weeks and included giving knowledge of obesity, dietary and exercise; taking photos for comparison; using a health handbook; setting an individual goal for weight reduction; individual counseling; telephone counseling; and providing self help group by a multidisciplinary teamwork. All instruments were tested for content validity by 3 experts of the related field. The reliability of the questionnaire for dietary and exercise behavior, evaluated with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient method, was 0.85 and 0.73 respectively. Descriptive statistics and paired t-test were used in data analysis.
The results revealed that after the program, the mean for dietary behaviors increased and body weight decreased significantly (p < 0.001). The means of exercise behavior before and after the program were not different significantly
(p > 0.05).
Conclusion: Self-regulation program for dietary and exercise can change health behavior and reduce body weight. There should be motivation to increase exercise behavior and follow up the long-term results of changed behavior as to maintain proper dietary and exercise behavior.