Initial development and reliability of a motivation for weight loss scale.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed at developing and evaluating a questionnaire assessing health and appearance as the two main reasons for weight loss in overweight and obese individuals.


METHODS
Using data from two representative telephone surveys in Switzerland, the factorial structure of this questionnaire was analyzed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The model obtained was cross-validated with data from a second representative Swiss survey and multigroup analyses according to sex, age, BMI and regional language subgroups were performed.


RESULTS
This lead to a 24-item, 3-factor solution, with factors labeled 'health', 'appearance in relation to others', and 'appearance in relation to oneself'. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were good.


CONCLUSIONS
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first validated questionnaire assessing overweight and obese individuals' reasons for weight loss. It should be further tested whether using this questionnaire as a pretreatment assessment device will help in tailoring treatments to individuals, thereby increasing treatment adherence and success.
Meyer
Andrea H
AH
Division of Applied Statistics in Life Sciences, University of Basel, Switzerland. andrea.meyer@unibas.ch
Weissen-Schelling
Simone
S
Munsch
Simone
S
Margraf
Jürgen
J
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D015431:Weight Loss