School of Rural Health, University of Sydney, Dubbo, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2014 Mar 11;14:243. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-243.
Young Adult Males (YAMs) in rural Australia are poorly studied with respect to overweight and obesity. Firstly, we explored the feasibility of recruiting 17-25 year old YAMs to obtain baseline data on overweight and obesity rates, socio-demographics, nutrition, exercise and mobile phone usage. Secondly, we explored the views of YAMs with a waist measurement over 94 cm about using mobile phone text messages to promote weight loss and incentives to promote healthy lifestyles.
A two-staged, mixed-methods approach was used to study obesity and overweight issues in Dubbo, a regional city in New South Wales, Australia. In Phase I, socio-demographic, health behaviour and mobile phone usage data were collected using a questionnaire and anthropometric data collected by direct measurement. In Phase II, YAMs' views were explored by focus group discussion using a semi-structured questionnaire.
Phase I (145 participants): mean Body Mass Index (BMI) 25.06±5.01; mean waist circumference 87.4±15.4 cm. In total, 39.3% were obese (12.4%) or overweight (26.9%) and 24.1% had an increased risk of metabolic complications associated with obesity. 135 (93.1%) owned a mobile phone and sent on average 17±25 text messages per day and received 18±24. Phase II (30 participants): YAMs acknowledged that overweight and obesity was a growing societal concern with many health related implications, but didn't feel this was something that affected them personally at this stage of their lives. Motivation was therefore an issue. YAMs admitted that they would only be concerned about losing weight if something drastic occurred in their lives. Text messages would encourage and motivate them to adopt a healthy lifestyle if they were individually tailored. Gym memberships, not cash payments, seem to be the most favoured incentive.
There is a clear need for an effective health promotion strategy for the almost 40% overweight or obese Dubbo YAMs. The high rate of text message usage makes it feasible to recruit YAMs for a prospective study in which personalized text messages are used to promote healthy behaviours. It may be important to target motivation specifically in any weight-related intervention in this group with incentives such as gym membership vouchers.
澳大利亚农村地区的年轻成年男性（YAMs）在超重和肥胖方面研究不足。首先，我们探索了招募 17-25 岁 YAMs 的可行性，以获取超重和肥胖率、社会人口统计学、营养、运动和手机使用的基线数据。其次，我们探讨了腰围超过 94 厘米的 YAMs 使用手机短信促进减肥和激励措施促进健康生活方式的观点。
采用两阶段混合方法研究澳大利亚新南威尔士州达博的肥胖和超重问题。在第一阶段，使用问卷收集社会人口统计学、健康行为和手机使用数据，并通过直接测量收集人体测量数据。在第二阶段，通过使用半结构化问卷的焦点小组讨论探讨 YAMs 的观点。
第一阶段（145 名参与者）：平均体重指数（BMI）25.06±5.01；平均腰围 87.4±15.4 厘米。总共有 39.3%的人肥胖（12.4%）或超重（26.9%），24.1%有与肥胖相关的代谢并发症的风险增加。135 名（93.1%）拥有手机，平均每天发送 17±25 条短信，接收 18±24 条短信。第二阶段（30 名参与者）：YAMs 承认超重和肥胖是一个日益严重的社会问题，对许多健康相关问题都有影响，但他们觉得这在他们生活的现阶段不会影响到他们个人。动机是一个问题。YAMs 承认，如果他们的生活中发生了一些重大的事情，他们才会担心体重问题。如果短信是量身定制的，那么它们将鼓励和激励他们采用健康的生活方式。健身房会员资格而不是现金支付，似乎是最受欢迎的激励措施。
达博近 40%超重或肥胖的 YAMs 显然需要有效的健康促进策略。高短信使用率使得招募 YAMs 进行前瞻性研究成为可能，在该研究中，个性化短信用于促进健康行为。在这个群体中，针对动机进行任何与体重相关的干预可能很重要，激励措施如健身房会员优惠券。
