Level of awareness on obesity, its causes and preventive practices among Makerere University lecturers, Kampala

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is one of the major problems the world is facing today. In order to understand the level of awareness on obesity, its causes and preventive practices among Makerere University lecturers, Kampala, various theoretical perspectives and reviews of literature were used. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of awareness on obesity, its causes and preventive practices among Makerere University lecturers, Kampala. The focus was on three main aspects; levels of awareness of obesity among lecturers, causes of obesity among lecturers and preventative practices of obesity. Methods: Three research questions were formulated to guide the researcher investigate the phenomena. A descriptive survey design was used to collect data from the field through the use of questionnaires. The study employed simple random sampling to select respondents. A total of 93 lecturers participated in the study. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data using SPSS version. Results: The data from the study indicated that lecturers of Makerere University have significantly high levels of awareness on obesity. All lecturers were who participated in the study had ever heard about obesity. The findings also further indicated the majority (81.7%) of the lecturers linked obesity mostly to physical inactivity and consumption of foods rich in fats. However, majority (85.4%) of the lecturers couldn’t establish how smoking causes obesity. Results from the study also indicated that all lecturers (100%) believed that periodic physical activity and eating low fat foods like fruits and vegetables mostly prevents obesity. However, majority (90%) of the lecturers still couldn’t establish whether good infant nutrition and none smoking could prevent obesity. Conclusion: The researcher thus recommends increased funding of nutrition programs to create awareness especially on obesity, carrying out guidance and counseling sessions on obesity to lecturers and so on. The researcher also suggests further studies of the same topic in other higher institutions of learning in Uganda.