Determining the Relationship Between the Transtheoretical Model Constructs and Dietary Fat intake in Obese or Overweight Middle-aged Women

Transtheoretical model is one of the most widely used models of behavior changes that helps identify health behaviors. Dietary fat intake is an important behavior in a human health. The objective of this study was to determining the relationship between the transtheoretical model constructs and dietary fat intake in obese or overweight middle-aged women living in Shazand City, Markazi Province, Iran.

In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, 114 middle-aged women with obesity or overweight randomly participated. Collected data included three 1-day dietary recalls, validated questionnaire of transtheoretical model  constructs and international physical activity questionnaires. Statistical analysis of data was carried out using SPSS Software v.20. One-way ANOVA was used for the analysis of quantitative variables with normal distribution and Kruskal-Wallis for non-parametric variables. Moreover, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient was used to show existence and intensity of relationships between the variables.

Overall, 13.2% of the participants were in the pre-contemplation, 18.4% in contemplation, 32.5% in preparation, 10.5% in action and 25.4% in maintenance stages. Intakes of total fat, cholesterol, saturated fatty acids, total energy intake and proportion of energy from fats decreased significantly with progress in the stage of change(p < 0.01). Significant inverse correlations were seen between the intakes of total fat, cholesterol and saturated fatty acids with the stage of change (r > 0.4). Significant inverse correlations were also seen between the intakes of total fat, saturated fatty acids and total energy with the self-efficacy score (r > 0.24). Furthermore, significant inverse correlations were reported between the intakes of total fat, cholesterol, poly-unsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids and total energy intake with the score of behavioral processes (r > 0.3).

Understanding of fat consumption behaviors and their affecting factors can help improve patterns of fat consumption and thus decrease prevalence of the associated diseases in society.