1. Self-regulatory and self-efficacy mechanisms of weight loss in women within a community-based behavioral obesity treatment.
- Author
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Annesi, James J. and Stewart, Francine A.
- Subjects
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WEIGHT loss & psychology , *OBESITY treatment , *WEIGHT loss , *COMMUNITY health services , *SELF-efficacy , *T-test (Statistics) , *EXERCISE therapy , *SELF-control , *TREATMENT effectiveness , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *FOOD habits , *ANALYSIS of variance , *STATISTICS , *COGNITIVE therapy , *WOMEN'S health , *AFFECT (Psychology) , *FACTOR analysis , *DATA analysis software , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *BEHAVIOR therapy , *OBESITY , *REGRESSION analysis - Abstract
Given the traditional methods of treating obesity through education on controlling eating and increasing exercise have largely failed beyond the very short term, a more intensive focus on psychosocial correlates of those weight-loss behaviors has been suggested. Multiple behavioral theories incorporate self-regulation, self-efficacy, and mood; however, their interrelations and effects over both the short and long term within cognitive-behavioral obesity treatments remain unclear. Within a novel community-based program with women with obesity who had either low (n = 29) or high (n = 71) mood disturbance scores, there were significant improvements in exercise- and eating-related self-regulation and eating-related self-efficacy—primary targets of that intervention—with no significant difference in those changes by mood disturbance grouping. Changes in the summed exercise- and eating-related self-regulation scores significantly mediated relationships between changes in eating-related self-efficacy and weight (over both 6 and 12 months). There were similar results with mediation assessed via the extent exercise-related self-regulation carried over to eating-related self-regulation. In both of those models a reciprocal relationship between self-regulation and self-efficacy changes was indicated. In serial multiple mediation equations, paths of changes in exercise-related self-regulation → eating-related self-regulation → eating-related self-efficacy → weight were significant. However, paths were not significant when change in self-efficacy was entered as the predictor (initial) variable. Findings suggest viability in first focusing on exercise-related self-regulation, then eating-related self-regulation, in the course of increasing self-efficacy and probabilities for inducing enough sustained weight loss to improve obesity-associated health risks. Benefits of field-based research findings generalizing to weight-management applications were suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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