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WJCR - William James Center for Research

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Browsing WJCR - William James Center for Research by advisor "Marôco, J. P."

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  • Me-wel: Menopause and weight loss – development of model, measure, and intervention
    Publication . Leitão, Mafalda Rodrigues; Pimenta, Filipa; Marôco, J. P.; Pérez-López, Faustino
    ABSTRACT: Middle-age significantly impacts a woman´s life, primarily due to menopause and its associated changes, such as weight gain, which poses a complex challenge. Understanding the behaviours and beliefs surrounding this phenomenon is crucial. The ME-WEL (MEnopause and WEight Loss) Project aimed to expand knowledge about weight management in middle-age and menopausal transition, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods and comprising three phases entailing eight distinct objectives. In Phase 1 (cross-sectional), quantitative instruments were developed and validated (n=1,921 middle-aged women aged 45-65 years) to assess cognitive/behavioural weight management strategies based on the Oxford Food and Activity Behaviours (OxFAB) Taxonomy (Objective 1) and weight management based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model (Objective 2). The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21 was also validated (Objective 3). A quantitative study also explored the pandemic´s impact on eating behaviour and psychological symptoms in peri and postmenopausal women (Objective 4). Phase 2 (cross-sectional) used qualitative methods (n=62 postmenopausal women) and highlighted the health beliefs associated with different weight experiences during the menopausal transition (i.e., weight gain or maintenance), based on the Health Belief Model (HBM; Objective 5), the factors contributed to weight gain among women who gained weight during the menopausal transition (Objective 6), and the successful weight management strategies employed by women who maintained a healthy weight during this specific phase (Objective 7). Phase 3 (longitudinal) included the development, implementation, and evaluation of the efficacy of an intervention to promote weight management strategies and subjective well-being among postmenopausal women (BMI≥25kg/m2 ), using a randomised control trial design (nIntervention=13; nControl=14). The intervention drew upon models and taxonomies of behavioural change – HBM, HAPA, Behaviour Change Techniques (BCT), and OxFAB. The ME-WEL findings suggest that i) the HBM is suitable for gaining an in-depth understanding of the weight differences among middleaged women during the menopausal transition, and ii) promoting knowledge and anticipatory strategies regarding menopause and weight management, specifically among premenopausal women, is an important preventive approach (desirably conducted by a multidisciplinary team). Also, iii) strategies like regulation-rule setting or energy compensation can be implemented and maintained over time, and iv) short eHealth group interventions are beneficial to promote weight management (in terms of cognitive and behavioural change) and well-being.
    2024-09-27Doctoral thesis Restricted access Show more