Effects of the Participatory Action Research on Reducing the Risk of Metabolic Syndrome in Adult Women

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a participatory action research (PAR) on reducing the metabolic syndrome risk factors among the Koran adult women. The effectiveness of the PAR intervention was examined using a one-group pretest-post-test design. The data were collected from 58 adult women living in a community health center in Ulsan, Korea, between May and November 2016. The psychosocial factors (empowerment, social support, and quality of life), metabolic-related indices, and health behaviors were collected to measure the intervention’s efficiency. After applying it, the participants’ empowerment, social support, and health-related quality of life increased significantly, as compared to the pre-test. Furthermore, their metabolic-related indices improved significantly in the post-test, as compared to the pre-test. Therefore, the PAR intervention was found to be effective in enhancing the psychosocial factors, metabolic-related indices, and health behaviors in the aforementioned population and could be applied to other community health centers.