Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

Obesity is a major public health issue in developed and developing countries. It is clear that obesity is related to lots of chronical disease. This research aims at examining the effect of body weight on work performance for working women. Data is collected from 481 women working in public and private foundations, between the age of 18-54 years via questionnaire forms. In forms, anthropometric measurements (height, weight), general information, body perception, work satisfaction and work performance evaluation are included. To specify work performance, 34 figure Likert scale is used. If the scale points go up, work performance decrease. Mean working time 10.16 years. According to BMI (Body Mass Index) evaluation, even though the rate of overweight and obese women are 39.3%, the rate of women not been pleased with their body weight and want to lose weight is 61.1%. Women being overweight and obese don’t like working environment are 41.5%. BMI associated with work stress and body perception. Total points of overweight and obese women are higher than normal weight and underweight women (p=0.000). The results showed that obesity not only causes chronical diseases but also effects the quality of life. The increase in BMI results in both the decrease of work performance and increase of work stress. Further researches in preventing obesity improve both the quality of life and national economy while decreasing the health problems.

Biography

Umus Ozbey has completed her Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics from Ankara University. She is doing her Master’s Degree in Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Ankara University. Also, she is a Research Assistant at the same university.

Email: umus_ozbey@hotmail.com