A COMPARISON OF THE SELF-CARE ABILITY OF EMPLOYED WOMEN WHO HAVE AND HAVE NOT MAINTAINED WEIGHT LOSS.
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 215
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the differences in both general self-care ability and weight loss maintenance self-care ability between employed women who have maintained a weight loss with those who have not. Orem's Self-care Theory (1971) with contributions from the Nursing Conference Development Group (1979) and Spangler & Spangler (1983) provided the conceptual framework for the study.

The study population was comprised of two groups: 43 employed women who had successfully maintained a weight loss for at least a year and 41 had not maintained their weight loss. The subjects completed three questionnaires: Perception of Self-care Agency Scale (PSCA), Hanson & Bickel (1983); Weight Loss Maintenance Scale (WLMS), Greenfield (1988); and a demographic and weight history form.

The first hypothesis that women who have maintained a weight loss will have a higher general self-care ability than those who have not was supported, t(72.01) = 4.50, p $<$.001. The second hypothesis that women who have maintained a weight loss will have a higher weight loss maintenance self-care ability than those who have not was supported, t(82) = 5.1, p $<$.001. The third hypothesis that there will be an inverse relationship between Body Mass Index and general self-care ability was supported, r(82) = -0.47, p $<$.001. The fourth hypothesis that there will be an inverse relationship between Body Mass Index and weight loss maintenance self-care ability was also supported, r(82) =.48, p $<$.001.

Behaviors "most helpful" to the maintainer group were those related to the ability to use self-control.

Construct validity of the researcher-developed WLMS was established. The reliability for the WLMS tool was 0.97. Item analysis was used to identify the contribution of each item to the internal consistency of the WLMS.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: B, page: 3398.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1989.

School code: 0043.