Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1988

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Robert G. Wahler

Committee Members

B. Don Franks, John Lounsbury, Lenny Handler

Abstract

Weight loss is one of the most serious and refractory problems faced by the healthcare community. Traditional weight loss programs have usually been restricted to changing overt behaviors related to dieting. The current weight loss program was designed to take the dieter's physical and psychological wellbeing into account by combining a twelve week aerobic exercise program with social support groups geared toward understanding the emotional factors that underly obesity and overeating. Twenty-four subjects were recruited form the East Tennessee area based on their response to an advertisement entitled "Weight Loss and Wellness". The design is a pre- and posttreatment design with matched controls prior to random assignment. Each subject was assigned to one of three conditions: A full treatment group receiving exercise plus social support, an exercise only condition and a waiting list control group. An analysis of covariance revealed significant differences between the full treatment group and the other groups in terms of pounds lost. The full treatment group also lost significntly more body fat and demonstrated greater reductions in hip and waist girth measurements than those in control condition. The exercise only group was not significantly different from either the full treatment group or the control group on these variables. In terms of the physical fitness variables, there were significant differences in flexibility between all three groups with the exercise only group making the most gains in flexibility, followed by the FT group would made significantly greater gains than the control group. The full treatment group demonstrated significantly greater increases in abdominal strength than the control group, but the exercise only group was not significantly different from either the control group or the full treatment group. There were no significant findings with regard to improvements in cardiorespiratory functioning or self-esteem measures.

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