OBESITY IN URBAN CANTONESE RESIDENTS

Malnutrition is a serious and worldwide health problem, resulting from a deficiency (under-nutrition) or excess (over-nutrition) of one or more essential nutrients. A person is at risk of malnutrition if the amount of energy and/or nutrients in the diet does not meet a person's nutritional needs. A big international donor-agency has money available to do something about this problem. They launch a "Call for Proposals" in which organisations from all over the world (governmental and non-governmental) are invited to submit a research proposal to investigate the nutritional situation in their part of the world and give recommendations for improvement of the local dietary situation. Many organisations have sent in their research proposals and, after the deadline has passed, the donor-agency appoints a team of experts to review the proposals. One of the more promising proposals, formulated by a team of social psychologists from Bapau University, addressed the problem of obesity in urban Cantonese residents': The Chinese were once considered to be among the slimmest people in the world. Recent studies however show, that China is now seeing an increase in the number of overweight and obese people, especially in the Southeast and coastal areas, such as the big cities in Canton Province. The Ministry of Health estimates (based on local studies) that approximately 30-40% of the urban Cantonese residents are overweight or obese. Overall, the proportion of the population that is overweight or obese is 7 times greater than it was just 10 years ago. Cantonese men are more likely to be obese than Cantonese women. Being the king of the family, he enjoys being served by his wife (or wives, as polygamy is quite common). He especially likes particular kinds of meat and all kinds of fried foods. He does not have to do the dishes; all he needs to do is eat and after his meal he will most likely watch the TV. Luckily for him, the Cantonese believe that for a man to be fat is cute and strong. The opposite is true for the Cantonese women: to be attractive she has to be slim. This is very important to her as she needs a man in her life. If she cannot find a partner, or if she looses her husband, she has a very low social status. The major goal of the proposed study is the development of a health education programme aimed at changing peoples dietary habits (for instance by trying to raise awareness of the increased risk that overweight people have to get cardiovasculair diseases and diabetes). However, as every social psychologist knows, before human behaviour can be changed effectively, it first needs to be understood. The team of social psychologists therefore proposes to make use in their study of a number of well-known models that are designed to measure and to explain human behaviour. References Glanz, K., Lewis, F.M., & Rimer, B. (Eds.) (1997). Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice. Second Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Chapters 3 and 5. ISBN: 0-7879-0310-8 Conner, M. and Sparks, P. (1995). The theory of planned behaviour and health behaviours. In: Conner, M. and Norman, P.(Eds), Predicting Health Behaviour (pp. 121-162). Buckingham: Open University Press.

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