Evaluation of obesity awareness level and HEALTHY lifestyle behaviors in adults

This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating obesity awareness level and healthy lifestyle behaviors in adult individuals. The study was conducted with 177 (126 woman, 51 man) adult individuals aged 19-64 who applied to a private Nutrition and Diet Counseling Center between April 2019 and November 2019. All individuals who agreed to participate in this study were informed about their socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, appetite status, and obesity knowledge level, etc., at the beginning of the study. A questionnaire consisting of 20 questions was applied. In addition, the Obesity Awareness Scale was used to evaluate the obesity awareness levels of individuals and the Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale (HLBS) II was applied to measure health-promoting behaviors. The mean age of the individuals participating in the study was determined as 38.1±12.44 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) of women and men participating in the study were 23.39±4.01 and 26.71±3.46, respectively. The mean body weight of the individuals was 70.1±14.89, and the mean body mass index was 24.3±4.13 kg/m². The mean total score of the individuals participating in the study was 60.50±5.06, the lowest score was 39, and the highest score was 73. The ranking was determined as obesity awareness (26.72±2.75), nutrition awareness (19.08±2.17) and physical activity awareness (14.70±1.68). The mean HLBS II total scores were 131.17±18.77, the lowest score was 65, and the highest score was 195. The ranking was found to be self-actualization (26.72±4.22), interpersonal support (26.23±1.14), nutrition (21.60±3.58), health responsibility (20.07±4.03), stress management (18.84±3.59) and exercise (17.71±5.32). No statistically significant difference was found between age groups, income level, smoking and alcohol use, education level, BMI value, waist circumference, waist/height ratio, and SPI sub-dimension and total scores (p>0.05). The relationship between age groups and HLBS II-Exercise, HLBS II-Interpersonal Support, HLBS II-Stress Management subgroup scores and HLBS II-Total scores was statistically significant (p<0.05). The HLBS II-Self-Realization (p<0.01), HLBS II- Interpersonal Support (p<0.05) subgroups and HLBS II- total scores (p<0.05) of the individuals whose income is more than their expenses are the scores of the individuals whose income is equal to their expenses and whose income is less than their expenses. was found to be significantly higher. There was no statistically significant difference between smoking status and HLBS II sub-dimension and total scores (p>0.05). A difference was found between alcohol use and HLBS II-Exercise scores and HLBS II-Total scores (p<0.01, p<0.05, respectively). A negative correlation was found between the number of cigarettes consumed per day by smokers and their HLBS II-Health Responsibility scores (r:-0.397,p<0.01). It was observed that as the number of cigarettes consumed per day increased, the HLBS II-Health Responsibility scores decreased. Among the BMI groups, the HLBS II-Exercise and HLBS II-Nutrition subgroup scores of those with a BMI level of 18.5-24.9 were found to be significantly higher than those with a BMI level of ≥30 (p<0.05, p<0.05, respectively). A negative correlation was found between the waist circumference values of the individuals participating in the study and their HLBS II-Exercise scores (r:-0.164, p<0.05). It was observed that as the waist circumference of the individuals increased, their HLBS II-Exercise scores decreased. As a result, no significant relationship was found between obesity awareness and socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements and lifestyle behaviors of individuals. However, a significant relationship was observed between healthy lifestyle behaviors and individuals' socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements and lifestyle behaviors. For the health of individuals, obesity awareness should be increased by following a multidisciplinary approach in the nutritional treatment of obesity. By emphasizing the importance of healthy lifestyle behaviors, individuals should be made aware of this issue; must be feasible and sustainable.