Explanatory Models of Overweight Among African American, Euro-American, and Mexican American Women

Abstract

Ethnographic interviewing methods were used to explore women's explanatory models (EMs) of overweight and the congruence of these models with professional models and professionally recommended treatments for overweight. Through community-based snowball and theoretical sampling, 40 African American, 40 Euro-American, and 40 Mexican American women of varying social status and weight participated in multiple ethnographic interviews, which were subsequently interpreted using domain analysis and constant comparison. Study participants' EMs of overweight ranged from simple to complex, were generally similar across the three study groups, and only partially congruent with professional EMs of obesity. Major differences in EMs between the study groups were found in the dimensions of etiologies and consequences of overweight. There was partial congruence between participants' EMs and professionally recommended treatments for overweight.