Barriers to Weight Management Among Overweight and Obese Firefighters

To examine barriers to weight management among firefighters.

Health risk data collected on 2373 overweight firefighters were used for this cross-sectional study. Barriers to weight management were the dependent variables and demographic characteristics, readiness for change, and health risk factors were the correlates in the multivariate-adjusted logistic models.

Overweight firefighters who were ready to begin a weight management program were more likely to identify "lack of knowledge about weight management," "lack of access to exercise opportunities," and "eating helps me cope with stress" and report a greater number of barriers toward weight management. Older firefighters were less likely to identify or report one or more barriers to weight management.

Understanding barriers, readiness for change, and age may be useful in planning interventions to help firefighters better manage their weight.