Using pictures as vignettes to assess stages of change in weight management

To evaluate the association between descriptions of the stage of change in weight management (using pictures as vignettes) and the changes in the restriction of amount of food and body weight. The goal is to develop counselling methods for helping people to change their lifestyles.

A total of 74 people at high risk of type 2 diabetes participated in six months of group counselling. The data were collected through questionnaires and video-recordings at the beginning and the end of the counselling process, and were analyzed using both deductive content analysis and statistical analysis.

Most of the participants were at the contemplation stage at the beginning of the study, and nearly half were at the action stage at six months. There were associations between progression in the lifestyle change process, the restriction of food amount, and weight changes. Judging from this, the descriptions of the change process of weight management using pictures were well made, because the change process progressed in parallel with the changes in weight and restriction of the amount of food eaten.

Assessing the stages of change in weight management by using pictures as vignettes is easy to carry out, and feasible. The descriptions of the stages of change were parallel with the changes in restriction of food and changes in weight.