Abstract
BackgroundVarious factors motivate people to undertake treatment for obesity. Among others they include health benefits, willingness to please others, and dissatisfaction with one’s appearance. The present study aimed to assess body size dissatisfaction in patients with obesity seeking and not seeking treatment for obesity.MethodsTwo-hundred-sixteen adult subjects (154 women, 62 men) including 80 people with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 starting treatment for obesity (BMI 35.7 ± 5.3 kg/m2) and 136 volunteers with obesity (BMI 34.7 ± 4.3 kg/m2) not seeking treatment for obesity, were enrolled. Body size satisfaction was assessed using the Figure Rating Scale adapted by Stunkard.ResultsPatients with obesity starting obesity treatment had more often a high level of body size dissatisfaction than volunteers with obesity not seeking the treatment (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference in the distribution of body size dissatisfaction in women (p < 0.05), but not in men (p = 0.47).ConclusionPatients with obesity, especially women, seeking obesity treatment more often represent a high level of body size dissatisfaction than volunteers with obesity not seeking treatment for obesity. This implies the need for public health campaigns to address negative attitudes or misconceptions about obesity and its treatment. Placing more attention and emphasis on body size dissatisfaction in more vulnerable women with obesity may help to define personal motivations and goals, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and better adapt therapeutic strategies.
Highlights
Various factors motivate people to undertake treatment for obesity
In the group of volunteers with obesity not seeking treatment for obesity, there were 12 (8.8%) subjects that had a high level of body size dissatisfaction, 53 (39%) - moderate and 71 (52.2%) - low (Fig. 1)
The high level of body size dissatisfaction significantly more often was observed among subjects starting obesity treatment than among volunteers with obesity not seeking treatment for obesity (χ2 = 15.9, p < 0.001)
Summary
Various factors motivate people to undertake treatment for obesity. Among others they include health benefits, willingness to please others, and dissatisfaction with one’s appearance. The present study aimed to assess body size dissatisfaction in patients with obesity seeking and not seeking treatment for obesity. Family support, quality of life and willingness to improve appearance [5,6,7] were proved to be motivators to seek obesity treatment. Identification of factors predisposing to undertake treatment of obesity will help to define better treatment strategies for health professionals. The recognition of factors affecting motivation for weight loss treatment may help patients to delineate their personal goals, understanding realistic/unrealistic expectations, ameliorating results in terms of subjective well-being and quality of life
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