Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the intensive lifestyle modification program on weight and metabolic syndrome risk reduction in rural obese women who have no underlying non-communicable diseases in Thailand. Design/methodology/approach-A randomized controlled trial was conducted. In total, 60 healthy obese women aged 30-50 years were recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention (n ¼ 30) or control (n ¼ 30) group after health screening. Tailored nutritional counseling, health education and exercise training were included in the lifestyle modification program. Behavioral modification techniques were also incorporated. The intervention was conducted weekly for the first eight weeks, then biweekly until week 16.
An intersectoral child development services project is being undertaken in Thailand to develop a model process for providing age appropriate care and education to rural children through an integrated programme of nutrition, health and educational services designed to meet community needs and perceptions. Using behavioral analysis and explanatory models, project results show that the effectiveness of nutrition education can be facilitated by (1) recognizing the family as the unit of service, (2) focusing on solutions rather than problems, (3) using a two-stage promotional message strategy to encourage better child caretaking, and (4) viewing potential new practices as behavioral processes, rather than single entities aimed at a specific outcome. Program planning should also include the successive construction and analysis of community-based explanatory models which justify people's nutrition and health behaviors. The ultimate aim is to identify differences between explanatory models held by community members and health/nutrition educators, negotiate this conflict, and thereafter develop more practical and realistic methods for modifying behavior.
The experience of the Asian and Pa cific region shows a great di versity in lon gi tu di nal re search de signs, the find ings of which are ben e fit ing the un der stand ing of health and de mo graphic trans for ma tions and con trib ut ing to more ef fec tive pol i cies, programmes and ser vices.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.