Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
9-2021
Document Type
DNP Project
Department
Nursing
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Ugochi Irikannu
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Rose Taylor-Lewis
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Lynn McClellan
Abstract
The obesity rate in the U.S. adult population has increased to epidemic levels despite attempts to decrease obesity through evidence-based knowledge, clinical practice guidelines, medical interventions, and individual efforts. For certain individuals, food addiction behaviors such as food cravings, loss of control, and binge eating contribute to obesity and require a different approach to care. Little work has been done on adding the possibility of food addiction to obesity screening and treatment. This study utilized a quasi-experimental quantitative pre- and postsurvey research design based on Lewin’s change theory. Nurse practitioners were surveyed regarding the provider’s perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about obesity both before and after the educational program. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recruitment via local resources and electronic communications resulted in only five participants during the allotted project timeline. Three out of five participants reported using the concept of food addiction in assessments. An education intervention on food addiction was administered following the initial survey, providing the participants with three evidence-based research articles and the Yale Food Addiction Scale survey and scorecard. Two weeks after the education was provided, the posteducation survey indicated no significant change in perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about obesity. It is recommended that this project be replicated with a larger sample before concluding that education on food addiction and obesity does not change clinical practice.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Ling, Lisa, "Food Addiction and Obesity" (2021). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 402.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/402
Included in
Family Practice Nursing Commons, Integrative Medicine Commons, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Commons, Other Medical Specialties Commons, Other Nursing Commons, Preventive Medicine Commons, Primary Care Commons, Public Health and Community Nursing Commons, Quality Improvement Commons, Substance Abuse and Addiction Commons