Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana

BACKGROUND: Obesity is rising in sub-Saharan Africa and globally, and is a highly significant public health problem that needs urgent attention. To reduce the obesity prevalence levels and associated challenges, public health interventions highlight healthy eating and increased physical activity, wh...

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Autores principales: Afrifa-Anane, Grace Frempong, Badasu, Delali Margaret, Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey, Anarfi, John Kwasi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9359579/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35939441
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272274
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author Afrifa-Anane, Grace Frempong
Badasu, Delali Margaret
Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey
Anarfi, John Kwasi
author_facet Afrifa-Anane, Grace Frempong
Badasu, Delali Margaret
Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey
Anarfi, John Kwasi
author_sort Afrifa-Anane, Grace Frempong
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Obesity is rising in sub-Saharan Africa and globally, and is a highly significant public health problem that needs urgent attention. To reduce the obesity prevalence levels and associated challenges, public health interventions highlight healthy eating and increased physical activity, which are key elements for weight management. AIM: This study explored perceived factors that hinder or facilitate weight management in an urban poor context in Accra, Ghana. METHODS: A cross-sectional qualitative data was obtained from eight focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted among community members. The FGDs were audio recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The findings indicate that weight management is mainly inhibited by the perception that healthy foods are expensive and not satisfying, laziness, lack of time to engage in physical activity, and social representation of being fat or slim. On the contrary, personal decision to manage weight and social support facilitated engagement in weight management. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that weight management is influenced by individual, community, and structural factors. These findings have programmatic implications in terms of health education strategies and messaging.
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spelling pubmed-93595792022-08-10 Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana Afrifa-Anane, Grace Frempong Badasu, Delali Margaret Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey Anarfi, John Kwasi PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Obesity is rising in sub-Saharan Africa and globally, and is a highly significant public health problem that needs urgent attention. To reduce the obesity prevalence levels and associated challenges, public health interventions highlight healthy eating and increased physical activity, which are key elements for weight management. AIM: This study explored perceived factors that hinder or facilitate weight management in an urban poor context in Accra, Ghana. METHODS: A cross-sectional qualitative data was obtained from eight focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted among community members. The FGDs were audio recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The findings indicate that weight management is mainly inhibited by the perception that healthy foods are expensive and not satisfying, laziness, lack of time to engage in physical activity, and social representation of being fat or slim. On the contrary, personal decision to manage weight and social support facilitated engagement in weight management. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that weight management is influenced by individual, community, and structural factors. These findings have programmatic implications in terms of health education strategies and messaging. Public Library of Science 2022-08-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9359579/ /pubmed/35939441 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272274 Text en © 2022 Afrifa-Anane et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Afrifa-Anane, Grace Frempong
Badasu, Delali Margaret
Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey
Anarfi, John Kwasi
Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana
title Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana
title_full Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana
title_fullStr Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana
title_short Barriers and facilitators of weight management: Perspectives of the urban poor in Accra, Ghana
title_sort barriers and facilitators of weight management: perspectives of the urban poor in accra, ghana
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9359579/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35939441
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272274
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