Measuring Factors Influencing Progression across the Stages of Readiness to Lose Weight among Overweight and Obese Adolescents

Epidemic incidence of obesity has become one of the public health priorities in disease control prevention. The study aims to determine the prevalence of readiness stages to lose weight among the overweight and obese adolescents and its influencing factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 631 adolescents of body mass index for age with z-score > 1 SD based on World Health Organization growth reference chart. The stages of readiness to lose weight were assessed using Trans-Theoretical Model. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors were collected using self-administered questionnaire. Majority of the respondents were in the action stage (40.3%) followed by contemplation (26.5%), preparation (15.5%), maintenance (11.4%) and pre-contemplation (6.3%). Ordinal regression analysis identified significant factors influencing progression across the stages of readiness to lose weight: no junk foods sold in school canteens (p = 0.005), TV viewing time ≤2 hours (p = 0.001), high physical activity means score (p < 0.001) and family encouragement on healthy eating (p = 0.010). Majority of adolescents who were overweight and obese were at the action stage of weight reduction. Focusing on extrinsic factors help to improve the effectiveness of weight management intervention.