Effect of Obesity on the Work Health-Related Behaviors and Quality of Life of South African Mining Employees: A Pilot Study

Shereen C. Currie, Michelle Smit, Mondli Linda and Jeanne Grace

Global Journal of Health Science, 2017, vol. 9, issue 12, 122

Abstract: BACKGROUND- Obesity rates have increased precipitously with a significant economic impact. Aim- The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of obesity on the work health-related behaviors and quality of life (QoL) of employees of mining companies in South Africa.METHODS- Forty (40) subjects from three mining companies were assigned to three BMI categories- normal weight (18.5‒24.9 kg/m2; n = 10), overweight 25.0‒29.9 kg/m2; n = 15), and obese (≥30.0 kg/m2; n = 15). Subjects wore a BodyMedia®FIT armband for seven consecutive days, and completed- 1) the WHO QoL; and 2) the WHO Health at Work survey.RESULTS- There were significant differences in calorie expenditure (p = 0.033), activity patterns (p = 0.017), and number of steps walked daily (p = 0.018) between the overweight and obese groups. Those of normal weight reported being significantly (p = 0.041) more satisfied with their QoL and their leisure time activities and income (p = 0.017) than the obese. Almost all the significant differences with regard to work health-related behaviors were between the overweight and obese groups.CONCLUSION- Results provide preliminary support for targeting weight loss as obesity may adversely influence employees’ work health-related behaviors and QoL.

Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/download/70570/39112 (application/pdf)
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/view/70570 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ibn:gjhsjl:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:122

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Global Journal of Health Science from Canadian Center of Science and Education Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Canadian Center of Science and Education ().