Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the changes of physical and psychological factors of obese children, obesity indices and blood serum levels, food habits and body and self-esteem after a weight control program. The results from this study were as follows: Participants of the study involved 20 boys (48.8%) and 21 girls (51.2%) totaling 41 children. Children's weight control experiences were 90.2% and parents' were 59.5%. Among methods of weight control, children and parents both used exercise and reduced amounts of meals. Sixty-one percent of the children had breakfast almost everyday. The reasons of skipping breakfast were having no time to eat by 44.4% and 50% of children watched TV while having a meal and they considered taste (55.3%) and nutrition value (21.1%) when choosing food. After the weight control program, the children's body fat percent (%) significantly decreased from 40.3% to 35.4% (p < 0.01). There was significant difference of boys and girls' hip circumferences (92.9 cm, 91.4 cm, p < 0.01) after the program but there was only a slight change in their WHR (0.91, 0.92). Girls' waist circumferences significantly decreased from 75.0 cm to 73.0 cm (p < 0.05) and there was a significant increase in HDL-cholesterol, 50.0 (mg/dL) to 55.2 (mg/dL), (p < 0.05). Knowledge levels of obesity significantly increased from 2.5 to 5.1 in the girls' cases (p < 0.001). Nonetheless, attitudes of weight control and food habits score had not changed a lot. After the program, both the boys and girls' body-esteem had significantly increased (p < 0.01) but self-esteem had not changed. These results suggest that a body weight control program must be included in nutrition education, exercise and psychotherapy to improve body and self-esteem of obese children.

• Keywords: weight control program; obesity; food habit; body satisfaction; self-esteem