(P24-077-23) Perceptions of What Constitutes ‘Healthy Weight’: An Investigation Among Middle-age Central American Immigrant Men

Objectives: To understand low-income, middle-age, overweight or obese Central American immigrant men’s perceptions of what constitutes a “healthy weight” and influences of those perceptions.

Methods: In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with low-income, Central American men (n=25) living in Washington D.C. in fall 2020 and spring 2021. Participants were asked to elicit thoughts of what constitutes a healthy weight, the role of weight management in chronic diseases (i.e., diabetes, hypertension), and their perceptions of healthy weight for men and women. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and content analyzed to identify themes using NVivo v12.

Results: Participants (52.6±6.9 years of age) who had resided in the U.S. (23.7±10.2 years) defined healthy weight as: (1) a balance between height and weight, (2) not carrying extra fat, (3) an absence of chronic diseases, and (4) having energy to exercise and engage in daily activities. They also reported being overweight or obese made a person more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and COVID, and to die from those conditions. Additionally, they perceived men and women should have a healthy weight; however, they reported men weighed more than women because men have higher muscle mass, eat more food, and have higher physical work demands. Contrastingly, they reported women weigh less than men because women generally take better care of their body, such as having time to engage in physical activity or follow a diet to manage their weight. Further, they reported women are subjected to societal pressures to be thin.

Conclusions: Having harmony between body weight and height and having energy for physical activities were examples of what constituted a healthy weight. The relation between overweight or obesity and chronic diseases was recognized. Men’s and women’s body weight were conceptualized differently. Gender-sensitive interventions to promote healthy weight among Central American men need to capitalize on their practical understanding about healthy weight, their awareness on the relation between overweight or obesity and chronic diseases and men’s understanding of their masculine attitudes and behaviors surrounding weight and weight management.

Funding Sources: Sumner Redstone Center Pilot Program Grant