Abstract:
This research had a Qausi - experimental design. The purposes of this research were 1) to compare the health perception of the staff in 3 aspects before and after using the program: the risk of disease and dangers of overweight, the severity diseases resulting from overweight and the benefits and barriers to weight reduction; 2) to compare the dietary behavior and exercise of the Takuapa Hospitals overweight personnel before and after using the program. 3) to compare the body mass index and waistlines of the personnel before and after using the program.The sample in this study consisted of 40 overweight personnel of the Takuapa Hospital who were healthy, with their body mass index over 23 kg/m2, voluntarily joined the program of weight reduction for 12 weeks. The research instrument was the modifying health behavior program which consisted of lectures and discussions, videotapes, modeling, counselling and following - up activities. The sample recorded their food eating behavior, movement exercises weight, body mass index and their waistlines during the study. The sample had to exercise three days a week, and 40 minutes per day. After that, the researcher collected the data by using the pre-test and post-test questionnaires about their perceptions of obesity. Regarding their health, the researcher collected the data by recording their body mass index and waistlines 3 times: before, immediately after the experiment and 4 weeks after the experiment. The data was analyzed by using percentage, means, standard deviation, pair t-test and repeated measure ANOVA.The result of the research showed that after the experiment, the sample had gained significantly changes in the perception of the risk of diseases and the dangers of being overweight, the severity of the diseases from being overweight, and the benefit and the barriers of weight reduction and better/diet and exercise behavior at a level of 0.5. The changing perception of the staff resulted in changing their dietary eating habit and exercise behavior. The sample had decreased significantly their body mass index and waistlines at a level of 0.5 after the experiment. In comparing about the body mass index and waistlines in each pair of the sample during the experiment, it was found that every pair had decreased his/her body mass index and waistline significantly at a level of 0.5. However, the researcher found that in the follow-up stage in week 16, the staffs waistlines had decreased insignificantly from the experiment period.