Factors influencing weight control practices amongst the adolescent girls in Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa
Background: The incidence of overweight is increasing amongst adolescents in many countries around the world. Healthy and unhealthy weight control practices are common amongst overweight and non-overweight adolescents. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore factors influencing weight control pra...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AOSIS
2016-05-01
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| Series: | African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/952 |
| Summary: | Background: The incidence of overweight is increasing amongst adolescents in many countries around the world. Healthy and unhealthy weight control practices are common amongst overweight and non-overweight adolescents.
Aim: The aim of this study was to explore factors influencing weight control practices amongst adolescent girls. Setting: The study was conducted at selected secondary schools of Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used. Nonprobability, purposive sampling was used to select adolescents who are practicing weight control. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 participants. Data were analysed according to Tesch’s open-coding method.
Results: This study revealed that adolescent girls are influenced by a variety of factors to control their weights. These included individual factors, such as body image dissatisfaction; family factors, caused by parental criticism about adolescent weight; and environmental factors, which contain peer group endorsement of dieting.
Conclusion: Adolescents are exposed to many unhealthy weight control practices, as a way of controlling excess weight. So it is of importance for healthcare providers to make them aware of healthy practices. |
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| ISSN: | 2071-2928 2071-2936 |