Objective: To explore the informational and behavioural factors, that affect women’s participation in physical activity (PA) and body weight changes during perimenopause. Methods: An environmental scan of online health websites to determine availability and quality of information for women about body weight changes during transition to menopause. An interpretive descriptive qualitative study of women age 40 – 60 to explore factors influencing their PA. Descriptive and inductive qualitative analysis were used. Results: Six of 52 websites (11.5%) contained information specific to perimenopausal women, with one site citing evidence. For 26 women interviewed, the most common enabling factors were daily structure, positive feelings, and accountability; while common barriers were disruptions in daily structure, competing demands, and self - sacrifice. Conclusions: There is a lack of information regarding body weight changes for perimenopausal women. Perimenopausal women attribute their PA participation to psychosocial factors, and not the physiology of menopause.

Interdiction：Little attention has been paid on the association between weight status and Hong Kong adolescents’ sexuality. Nowadays, increasing incidence of risky sexual behaviours caused negative outcomes among adolescents. Studies showed that obesity population suffer difficult social relationships and had bad school performance. The aim of this study is to identify associations between BMI, BSD status and sex-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours among Hong Kong adolescents. Methods: This population-based study uses secondary data from Youth Sexuality Study (YSS), it is a self-administered questionnaire conducted by Hong Kong Family Planning Association (HKFPA). 2329 secondary school Form 3 to Form 7 students successfully completed the survey were included in the study. The primary outcome is sexual knowledge scores, sexual attitudes scores, dating status and intercourse status. Body mass index (BMI) was estimated to classify weight status categories (categorized by normal weight, underweight, overweight, and obese) according to IOTF cutoffs and WHO BMI guideline. Body shape dissatisfaction was defined as a discrepancy between current and ideal body shape based on a figure rating scale. Age, gender, grade, parental education levels and BMI were adjusted as confounders. Generalized linear models were used to analyze the association between weight status and sex-related knowledge, and attitudes. A binary logistic regression was used to compare associations between weight status and sex-related behaviours and provide odds ratios (OR). Results: 7.1% of respondents were classified into underweight, 83.4% normal weight, 6.3% overweight and 3.2% obese. Obese students had an average a sexual attitudes score 1.26 (95% CI: 1.21, 6.96) point higher than that of the normal weight students, and obese girls had a mean attitudes score 1.24 higher than normal weight girls, it is significant association. A means of 0.59 points higher of sexual attitudes score for desired a larger BS students compared to no dissatisfaction. Odds ratio was showed for overweight boys of 1.74 (95% CI: 1.08, 2.79) showed likely to had dating. There was no significant association of knowledge score with current weight status after adjustment of confounders. Likewise, there was no significant association between weight status and intercourse status. Conclusion: Overweight and desired a smaller body shape was significantly associated with sexual attitudes that are accepting of risk-taking behaviours. Being overweight and desiring a smaller body shape was also associated with increased probability of ever having dated, but only in males. This study provided some findings to suggest adolescents’ sexuality and weight status for Hong Kong government’s policy making agenda. There need to be more allocation of education resources in expanding mental and social-relationship consultancy for obesity adolescents and those who desired a smaller body shape, and to develop risky sex-related behaviours prevention to obesity male adolescents. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

The greater body mass of African American females relative to Caucasian females is a well-documented finding implicated in ethnic disparities in health outcomes. The principal aim of the current study was to evaluate a theoretical account that may explain ethnic differences in body mass index. The proposed theoretical account focused on appearance-related concerns regarding the desirability of a thin body type as motivation to engage in weight control behavior. It was hypothesized that Caucasians would evidence greater internalization of the thin ideal than African Americans, which would then be associated with greater dietary restriction and physical activity, thereby predicting lower body mass among caucasians relative to African Americans. It was expected that this model would demonstrate greater applicability to individuals who lack constitutional thinness, i.e., individuals who have struggled with weight management in the past or at present. The study's design w as cross-sectional. African American (n=113) and Caucasian (n= 633) undergraduate, unmarried, heterosexual females between the ages of 18 and 30 completed online questionnaires in which they provided information on their ethnicity,socioeconomic status, ethnic identity, thin-ideal internalization, the perceived romantic appeal of thinness, the importance of romantic need fulfillment, dietary restriction, physical activity, height, current weight, and their highest weight since attaining their current height. Structural equation modeling with LISREL 8.72 was used to evaluate the proposed model. Support for hypotheses was mixed. Among the subset of participants categorized as lacking constitutional thinness, the relationship between ethnicity and body mass was mediated by thin-ideal internalization and the perceived romantic appeal of thinness, each of which contributed independently to dietary restriction, which in turn evidenced a curvilinear relationship with body mass. Results ar e consistent with the notion that ethnic differences in body mass may be partially accounted for by differences in standards for physical appearance, which may then motivate weight control behavior to a greater extent in Caucasians than African Americans.

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

The ideology of weight control as evidenced in the discourse of American adolescent girls is explored via a cognitive approach to discourse analysis, and focuses on the teasing out of cultural models through evidence in natural language. It is hypothesized that a cultural model exists which equates weight control with a moral code reflective of the Protestant ethic. The research examines how the cultural model frames experience by supplying interpretations of that experience, and how it influences behavior by supplying goals for action. The cognitive salience of the model within the belief system of the individual regulates the degree of influence the model has on behavior. Four levels of influence are proposed, ranging from cultural cliche to motivation of disordered eating. The predominant influence is found to be as an occasional guide to weight controlling action or discourse about such action.

Shape- and weight-based self esteem was proposed to be a central cognitive component of the eating disorders. In this thesis, the psychometric properties of the Shape- and Weight-Based Selfesteem (SAWBS) Inventory, a newly-developed measure of the influence of shape and weight on feelings of self-worth, were determined. A preliminary examination of possible developmental precursors of shape- and weight-based self-esteem was also performed. SAWBS scores were stable over 1 week, and correlated with women's negative perceptions about their bodies in eating disorder and undergraduate control groups (EDG and UCG, respectively). In the UCG, SAWBS scores correlated with one of two measures of shape and weight cognitive schemata. The validity of shape- and weight-based self-esteem as a central feature of eating disorder symptomatology was supported in a number of ways. SAWBS scores correlated positively with eating disorder symptom scores in the UCG, and were significantly higher in women identified as "possible or probable" eating disorder cases than in women not suspected of having an eating disorder. SAWBS scores were also higher in the EDG than in the UCG or a psychiatric control group (PCG), even after controlling for age, socioeconomic status, Body Mass Index (BMT), selfesteem, and depression. Interestingly, a differing relationship between depression and SAWBS emerged as a function of group. Follow-up investigations revealed that SAWBS scores differed significantly between depressed, but not nondepressed women from the three groups. With regard to discriminant validity, SAWBS scores were uncorrelated with BMI and socioeconomic status in UCG and EDG women, and were uncorrelated with the tendency to respond in a socially sanctionned manner in UCG women. Although the tendency to respond in a socially sanctionned manner was related to SAWBS scores in EDG women, SAWBS scores remained higher in EDG than in UCG women after the effect of social desirability was controlled. The proposed developmental precursor variables of SAWBS included endorsement of stereotyped beliefs about thinness, perceived SAWBS in friends, siblings, and parents, and perceived importance placed by parents and romantic partner on the woman's own shape and weight. In both EDG and UCG women, endorsement of societal beliefs about shape and weight, and perceived importance placed on their own shape and weight by mother and father were significantly related to SAWBS scores. In sum, the SAWBS Inventory showed early promise as a reliable and valid measure of shape- and weight-based self-esteem, and may be a useful tool in the assessment of eating disorders. Theoretical and clinical implications with regard to the role of SAWBS in the development and treatment of eating disorders are discussed.

Mechanically pressed Brassica napus L. meals’ digestibility nutritional compositions were evaluated with digestibility studies. Two growth trials were conducted identifying the meals’ maximum dietary inclusion level in broiler chicken diets. Heat reduced nutrient digestibility of mechanically pressed black canola meal (MPBCM). Meals with higher residual oil had higher AMEn. Enzyme addition did not affect MPBCM AMEn but increased standardized ileal amino acid digestibility (SIAAD) of meal with high residual oil. Carbohydrase increased AMEn of mechanically pressed yellow canola meal (MPYCM) while lipase generally improved SIAAD. MPBCM with 12 and 17% residual oil can be fed up 15% in the starter and grower diets but at 10% in finisher diet. Mechanically pressed black canola meal (MPYCM) with 12% residual oil should be fed in the starter and finisher diets at 10% and 15% in grower diet. Meal with 17% residual oil should be fed only at 10% in finisher diet. / Masters Thesis

Objective: To explore the informational and behavioural factors, that affect women’s participation in physical activity (PA) and body weight changes during perimenopause. Methods: An environmental scan of online health websites to determine availability and quality of information for women about body weight changes during transition to menopause. An interpretive descriptive qualitative study of women age 40 – 60 to explore factors influencing their PA. Descriptive and inductive qualitative analysis were used. Results: Six of 52 websites (11.5%) contained information specific to perimenopausal women, with one site citing evidence. For 26 women interviewed, the most common enabling factors were daily structure, positive feelings, and accountability; while common barriers were disruptions in daily structure, competing demands, and self - sacrifice. Conclusions: There is a lack of information regarding body weight changes for perimenopausal women. Perimenopausal women attribute their PA participation to psychosocial factors, and not the physiology of menopause.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2007. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.