چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background: Obesity is a chronic disease which contributes to morbidity and mortality from non-communicable diseases. Urbanization, western lifestyles and demographic transition contribute to this problem in Nigeria. Primary care physicians should be active in early detection, and motivating obese people for life style change. Motivation is an important first step towards any action or behaviour change and clinicians can assess and enhance motivation to change before extensive damage is done to health, relationships, reputation, or self-image. Aims: To determine pattern and predictive factors for readiness to change among literate obese patients in primary care. Methods and Materials: A cross-sectional study was conducted between July and October 2012, among literate obese patients in the outpatient department of an urban hospital. Obese patients were identified by clinical examination, and readiness to change was measured with the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment (URICA) score. Results: Prevalence of obesity was 17.43%. Most of the subjects were married (83.8%), female (76.5%) had tertiary education (64.7%) and from professional cadre (54.4%). Mean age was 43.5±9.2. Majority (69.1%) felt that they were motivated (self- perception) to lose weight, but most (58%) were not confident that they could lose weight (self-efficacy). Based on the URICA score, most (73.5%)of the literate obese patients were contemplators. There were no significant predictors of the stage of change. Conclusion: Obesity is common among literate patients in the outpatient setting. The mean URICA score was 8.68±1.68, and most were in contemplation stage.