Paper: The Obesity, Menopausal Status, and Health Behavior among Climacteric Women in a Rural Community of Southern Taiwan (19th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice)

Tuesday, 8 July 2008: 10:30 AM

Hsiang-Chu Pai, MSN, RN , School of Nursing, Institute of Medicine of Chung Shan Medical University & Min-Hwei College of Healthcare Management, Tainan, Taiwan

Hsiu-Chin Chen, PhD, RN, EdD , Department of Nursing, Utah Valley State College, Orem, UT

Learning Objective 1: To understand the relationships between obesity, menopausal status, and health behavior among climacteric women in a rural community.

Learning Objective 2: To take actions to promote persistent practices of healthy behavior among women, and to enable women to take responsibility for a healthy lifestyle.

Background: Obesity is a burgeoning health problem in Taiwan. Research has proposed that the prevalence of obesity in females is higher than that of males and increases gradually with the age, especially for women aged 40 to 59 years old. Evidence has shown that relationships among obesity, age, physical activities, demographics, and menopause in climacteric women. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between obesity, menopausal status, and health behavior among climacteric women in a rural community of southern Taiwan.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit participants because a sensitive research topic for women was proposed. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect the data of the Climacteric Health Behavior (CHB) Scale and anthropometrics from 60 climacteric women in Taiwan. The obesity status was measured using the body mass index (BMI) and waist circumferences. The Chinese version of the CHB developed by Tsao et al. (2002) was used to gather the data of the climacteric women's achievement of practicing health behavior.

Results: After controlling the covariate of age, there was a significant difference in the means of BMI between the postmenopausal and premenopausal women (F = 3.125, p < .05). Women with obesity performed less overall health behavior, nutrition-related health behavior, and health responsibility than those of non obese women (p < .05). The variable of nutrition related health behavior was significantly and negatively associated with the BMI levels (t = -2.86, p < .01) and accounted for 12% of the total variance.

Discussion: This study provides an understanding of climacteric women's obesity status and related health behavior in a rural community of southern Taiwan. It is imperative that community health care personnel take actions to promote persistent practices of healthy behavior among women, and to enable women to take responsibility for a healthy lifestyle.

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