Factors affecting body fat control behavior

Introduction: Overweight is one of the increasing global public health problems. Overweight may lead to many disease occurrences. How to control overweight becomes important research question. Body fat significantly affects overweight condition. The purpose of this study is to understand the people’s cognitive awareness of body fat, related behaviors affecting body fat control, and future willingness to control body fat. This study uses Health Belief Model to explore the important factors that affect people’s behaviors related to body fat control. Methods: A questionnaire was designed based on the five constructs of Health Belief Model. The samples were collected by means of online questionnaires from June to August of 2020. A total of 497 valid questionnaires were received and analyzed for reliability and validity. Statistical analyses include t-test?One-way ANOVA?Chi-Squared test, and logistic regression. Results: In the analysis of demographic characteristics for Health Belief Model, the Perceived Susceptibility dimension has a significant correlation with gender and work status; the Perceived Benefits dimension has a significant correlation with gender; the Perceived Barriers dimension is significantly correlated with gender, age, monthly disposable income, and place of residence. People’s self-perception of their body shape will affect their willingness to control body fat. Those who are slightly overweight and dissatisfied with their body shape are more willing to control body fat. The Perceived Susceptibility, Perceived Benefits and Cues to Action in the Health Belief Model can predict people’s willingness to control body fat. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the Health Belief Model is useful in exploring the people’s body fat control behavior. Based on the people’s cognition of body fat control, the model can predict their willingness to implement body fat control behavior and suggest effective improvement programs accordingly.