Abstract
M.Cur.
Community nurses have a very important role to play in the planning of health promotion
programmes and implementation of the necessary interventions for patients and groups with
obesity problems. Obesity is one of the health problems that requires signficant behavioural
changes in one's lifestyle as part of such interventions.
The research study sought to explore the perceptions of both the patients and the community
nurses of the phenomenon of obesity as a health risk, and to identify any areas that could
give rise to problems when health promotion actions were planned for obese people. It was
specifically important to obtain the perceptions of the community nurse of obesity, since the
level of knowledge of the health problem as well as her personal attitude towards this
problem, will be crucial in the manner and quality of her interventions.
The study explored patients' and nurses' perceptions about obesity as a health risk (Phase
I and 2). Factors in the internal and external environments of the obese individual were
identified and analysed into categories and subcategories.
The study is qualitative and explorative in nature, data was collected through the use of
semistructured interviews, and Giorgi's method of data analysis was used. Literature control
was done to examine how existing literature compared with data obtained from
semistructured interviews on the nature of obesity as a health problem.
Obesity is clearly a health risk and affects the person's totality of life experiences as
demonstrated by the resultant patterns of interactions between the internal and external
environments of an obese person. Results of the data analysis and literature control gave
rise to the need to structure recommendations to give the community nurse the capacity and
support that was identified as necessary for her to be able to carry out her nursing
intervention.