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Obesity: Overview
Obesity is a term used to describe a condition that occurs when the weight of children or adults in relation to height exceeds levels that are thought to be compatible with optimal health. Obesity is considered both a chronic disease and a major worldwide health problem. When thinking about obesity, communication is an important social factor that influences causes, treatment, and perceptions of obesity at macro- and microlevels. The relationship between obesity and communication is complex.
Definition
Obesity is commonly defined in terms of body mass index (BMI), which is quantified as: BMI = weight in kilograms/(height in meters)2. In English units, BMI = [weight in pounds/(height in inches)2] × 703. BMI provides an estimate of body fatness. In adults, overweight is diagnosed when BMI is more ...
- Community Health Issues
- Change Agency
- Collective Efficacy
- Community Initiatives, Comprehensive
- Community Mobilization
- Community Organizing as a Research Approach
- Community Participation
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Conflict Management: Health Professionals
- Cultural Differences
- Health Activism and Public Health
- Immigrant Families
- Media Literacy
- Nature, Environment, and Sustainability
- Organizational and Public Policy Barriers
- Readiness Assessments
- Rural Health Communication
- Sex Workers
- Social Action, Types of
- Social Aggregates
- Social Capital
- Social Determinants of Health
- University–Community Relationships
- End-of-Life Issues
- Evaluation of Health Intervention, Health Education, Health Communication
- Content Analysis
- Data Mining
- Evaluation, Statistical Challenges in
- Evaluation: Mixed Methods
- Evaluation: Qualitative Methods
- Evaluation: Quantitative Methods
- Focus Groups
- Intervention Evaluation Methodology Technologies, New
- Logic Models and Program Evaluation
- Measurement Problems
- Measurement: Message Quality
- Modeling Development and Testing
- Risk Communication
- Risk Society
- Sampling
- Setting Objectives: Health Communication and Intervention
- Everyday and Family Health Communication Issues
- Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention
- Aging
- Alcohol and Health Decision Making
- Childhood Injury Prevention
- Children, Health Communication With
- Cross-Generational Health Communication
- Decision Making
- Disabilities and Family Relationships
- Everyday Health Communication
- Everyday Health Communication, Social Influence of
- Familial Roles in Health Communication
- Families, Communication With
- Family Caregiving
- Family Meeting
- Family Planning
- Family: Relationship to Health
- Grief and Loss
- Health Communication, Unintended Effects of
- Health Education
- Health Literacy and Numeracy
- Health Literacy, Consequences of
- Health Literacy, Improving
- Health Literacy, Measurement of
- Health Literacy, Model of
- Health Literacy, Online
- Health Literacy: Integrating Into Health Care Systems
- Health Transition and Family Communication
- Illness Identity
- Mother–Daughter Dyad Communication
- Religion and Spirituality
- Social Construction: Disability
- Social Identity
- Social Norms
- Social Support and Cardiovascular Health
- Social Support and Support Groups
- Social Support Interventions
- Social Support, Types of
- Social Support: Relationship to Health
- Stigma Reduction
- Stigmatization
- Stigmatization, Consequences of
- Stigmatization, Coping With
- Stigmatization: Courtesy Stigma
- Stigmatization: Labels, Marks, and Peril
- Surrogate Decision Makers
- Teen Pregnancy
- Health Campaigns
- Advertising, Governmental Regulation of
- Advertising: Dietary Supplements
- Advertising: Food
- Advertising: Over-the-Counter Drugs
- Advertising: Prescription Drugs
- Affordable Care Act
- Assessment of Health Campaigns
- Awareness and Instruction Strategies
- Campaign Effects Versus Effectiveness
- Channels and Formats
- Communication Complex
- Communication for Behavioral Impact
- Crisis Communication
- Developing Countries, Campaigns in
- Disease Prevention
- Dissemination
- Emotion Appraisals Regarding Risk
- Evidence: Role in Campaigns
- Formative Evaluation
- Health Campaigns
- Health Campaigns, Assessment of
- Incentive Appeals
- Influential Source Messengers
- Integrated Marketing Mix
- Interpersonal Communication and Mass Media Health Campaigns
- Message Design
- Message Sidedness
- Message Tailoring
- Optimistic Bias
- Perceived Threat
- Program Strategies: Campaigns
- Public Service Announcements
- Risk Communication
- Risk Communication: Food Safety
- Risk Perceptions
- Risk-Taking Behavior
- Segmentation: Health Campaigns
- Sensation-Seeking Targeting
- Social Marketing
- Health Communication, International and Diversity Issues
- Bangladesh
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- China
- Conflict and Negative Health Effects
- Cultural Sensitivity
- Disenfranchised Populations
- Egypt
- Ethnic Diversity in Health Care Settings
- Europe
- Ghana
- Health Care: Discrimination or Bias in
- Health Disparities, Personal Influences on
- Health Disparities, Relational Influences on
- Health Disparities, Solutions for
- Health Disparities: Clinical Interactions
- Health Disparities: Communal Level
- Health Disparities: Overall
- Human Rights
- Immigrant Populations
- India
- Indonesia
- Intercultural Health Communication
- Iran
- Islamic Healing
- Japan
- LGBT Issues
- Malawi
- Marginalized Populations
- Mexico
- Middle East
- Nepal
- Nigeria
- Philippines
- Public Health Intervention: Multicultural Communities
- Russia
- Senegal
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Structure-Centered Approach
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Uganda
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Zimbabwe
- Health Information
- Defensive Reactions: Health Messages
- Digital Divide
- Disclosure: Family Health History
- Disclosure: Medical Errors
- Disclosure: Providers and Patients
- Emotion and Information Seeking
- Explaining Illness
- Explaining Illness, Need for
- Expressive Writing and Health
- Health Citizenship
- Health Communication Curricula
- Health Information-Seeking Behavior, Psychosocial Determinants of
- Health Information-Seeking Behavior, Social Determinants of
- Information Nonseeking
- Information Seeking
- Information Sharing
- Numeracy
- Online Health Information Seeking
- Online Health Information Sharing
- Opinion Leaders
- History of Health Communication
- Communication Networks
- Communication, Basic Concepts of
- E-Health: Defined
- Health Communication, History of
- Health Information Channels
- Lifespan, Communication Across the
- Medicine as Business, Evolution of
- Patient and Relationship-Centered Communication and Medicine
- Personalized Medicine
- Postcolonial Studies and Health
- Premises of Health Communication
- Science Communication
- Translational Research
- Media Content
- Advertising Unhealthy Foods to Children
- Audiences, Reaching
- Body Images and Portrayals
- Celebrity Cancer Announcements
- Celebrity Endorsements
- Digital Media
- Disclaimers, Interpretation and Effects of
- Entertainment–Education
- Entertainment–Education: European Approach
- Entertainment–Education: Hollywood and Public Relations Approach
- Entertainment–Education: Role of Involvement
- Genetically Modified Organisms, Media Coverage of
- Health Blogging
- Health Disparities: Media
- Health Journalism
- Health Promotion
- Ideological Hegemony
- Institutional Processes and Competing Agendas
- Mass Media
- Media and Health, Critical Analysis of
- Media Content, Impact of
- Media Content: Magazines
- Media Content: Newspapers
- Media Content: Other Print
- Media Content: Televised Entertainment
- Media Content: Televised News
- Media Depictions: Disability
- Media Depictions: Medical Workers
- Media Depictions: Mental Illnesses
- Media: Quality of Health Information
- Moderating Variables and Audience Effects: Violence
- Music in Health Behavior: Change Campaigns and Interventions
- Obesity and Mass Media
- Pathways to Change Tool
- Pornography, Health Consequences of
- Public Relations and Health Journalism
- Public Relations and Health Promotion
- Public Relations and Social Media
- Social Marketing: Community Change Perspective
- Television
- Twitter and Public Health
- Organizational Issues and Health Policy
- Adult Children of Alcoholics
- Advocacy
- American Medical Association
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.
- Conflict Management: Health Professionals
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Health Care Teams
- Health Policy
- Healthy People Initiative
- Hospital Governance Culture
- Informed Consent
- Interdisciplinary Health Services Research
- Mediated Health Campaigns
- Multicultural Campaigns
- National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy
- National Cancer Institute
- National Institutes of Health
- National Library of Medicine
- National Medical Association
- Organizations and Health
- Patient Privacy
- Politics and Political Complexities
- Public Relations and Health Care Organizations
- Role Stress: Overall
- Segmentation: Public Relations
- Stress and Burnout: Emotional Labor
- Stress and Burnout: Home–Work Conflict
- Stress and Burnout: Overall
- Three Community and Five Cities Projects
- UNICEF
- Working Well
- World Health Organization
- Provider–Patient Interaction
- Amputation
- Anger Appeals
- Anxiety
- Clinical Trial Participation
- Coding Health Interaction
- Collaborative Decision Making
- Collaborative Decision Making, Uncertainty in
- Collaborative Decision Making: Shared Mind
- Communication Skills Training and Assessment: Providers
- Communication Skills Training: Patients
- Compassion
- Contested Illnesses
- Conversation Analysis
- Coping
- Dependent Variables Derived From Critical Health Outcomes
- Difficult Patients
- Discourse and Health
- Doctor–Patient Communication
- Emergency Rooms
- Emotions and the Medical Care Process
- Face and Politeness
- Health Care Environment
- HIV Test Counseling
- Humor
- Identification
- Interactional Context and Intervention
- Interpersonal Communication Skills
- Interpreters and Language
- Interviewing in the Health Care Context
- Language and Negation Bias: Doctor–Patient Interaction
- Language Brokering
- Listening in Health Care Interactions
- Malpractice Litigation
- Medical Outcomes
- Medical Regimens, Adherence to
- Nonverbal Communication in Health Care Settings
- Open Dialogue Approach
- Overtreatment and Overreliance on Diagnostic Testing
- Pathways to Health Outcomes
- Patient Activation
- Patient Education: Hospital Discharge and Readmission
- Patient Empowerment
- Patient Navigators and Family Advisors
- Patient Safety
- Prescribing Medications
- Quality of Life as a Health Outcome
- Satisfaction
- Support Providers and Persons With Disabilities, Decision Making Between
- Supportive Listening
- Public Health Communication
- Biopreparedness and Biosecurity
- Climate Change
- Communication Networks
- Developmental Health
- Disaster Relief
- Emergency Preparedness and Response
- Environmental Health
- Environmental Health, Research in
- HIV/AIDS Prevention
- HIV/AIDS: Mother-to-Child Transmission
- Immunizations
- Memorable Messages
- Newborn Care
- Online Health Information Credibility
- Priming in Health Campaign Messages
- Public Engagement: Science Policy
- Public Health and Academic Partnerships
- Public Health Communication
- Public Health Communication, Evolution of
- Public Understanding: Research
- Public Understanding: Science
- Rhetoric: Flu Vaccine
- School Health
- Science Literacy
- Scientific Complexity, Communication of
- Sexual Health
- Tobacco
- Warning Labels: Alcohol
- Warning Labels: Cigarettes
- Warning Labels: Overview
- Warning Labels: Prescription Drugs
- Women's Health
- Work Site Safety
- Specific Health Issues/Providers
- Abuse: Child and Spousal
- Acupuncture
- Age-Related Hearing Loss
- Alternative and Complementary Medicine
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Antisocial Behaviors: Bullying and Cyberbullying
- Ayurveda, Yoga, and Meditation
- Bioterrorism
- Birth Control and Contraception
- Breast Cancer
- Breastfeeding
- Cancer Survivorship
- Cancer: Risk Communication
- Childbirth
- Childhood Injury Prevention
- Chronic Diseases
- Circumcision, Male
- Communication Interventions
- Contraception
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
- Disability
- Disaster Relief
- Distance Caregiving
- Drug and Alcohol Abuse Minimization
- Eating Disorders
- Emergency Health Communication
- Enhancement
- Environmental Health
- Exercise
- Fertility
- Gambling Addiction
- Gender
- Genetics
- Heart Health
- HIV/AIDS Test, Meanings of
- HIV/AIDS Treatment
- HIV/AIDS: Condom Use and Meanings
- HIV/AIDS: Disclosure Dilemmas
- HIV/AIDS: Language, Metaphors, and Social Construction
- HIV/AIDS: Overview
- HIV/AIDS: Social Determinants of Disparities
- Holistic Medicine
- Human Papillomavirus
- Influenza A Virus Subtype H1N1
- Integrative Medicine
- Internet Addiction
- Malaria and Mosquito Nets
- Mammography
- Mental Health
- Military Health
- Military Sexual Assault
- Multilevel Interventions
- Neurorhetoric
- Nursing
- Nutrition and Diet
- Obesity: Overview
- Oral Health and Dentistry
- Organ Donation
- Osteopathy
- Pandemics
- Pharmacists
- Physical Activity and Weight
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Pregnancy
- Prenatal Health Promotion
- Prostate Cancer
- Safer Sex
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
- Sex Education
- Sexual Assault
- Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention
- Skin Cancer and Sun Safety
- Skin Cancer and Tanning
- Slow-Motion Technological Disaster, Responses to
- Smoking
- Suicide
- Transitions, Health Effects, and Support
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Tuberculosis
- Vaccinations
- Technology
- Big Data
- Biomedical and Health Informatics
- Body Implants, Medical
- Bundled Interventions
- Computer Kiosks, Free-Standing
- Computer-Tailored Interventions
- Customization as Tailoring 2.0
- Digital Divide
- Digital Personal Health Records
- Gaming
- Geographic Information Systems Technology
- Internet: Information Acquisition
- Medical Records, Electronic
- Message Tailoring
- Mobile Health
- Online Focus Groups
- Online Health Information Exchange and Privacy
- Online Support Groups
- Online Support Groups, Advantages and Disadvantages of
- Persuasive Technologies for Health
- PubMed
- Reproductive Technologies, New
- Secondary Data Analysis
- Social Media
- Technology and Health Outcomes
- Technology: Impact on Physician–Patient Dialogue
- Telemedicine
- Theoretical Frameworks, Communication Technology
- Virtual Reality Environments
- Weak Tie/Strong Tie Network Support
- Web-Based Delivery
- Theories, Ethics, Philosophy, and Overriding Methodological Issues
- Acculturation
- Action Tendency Emotions
- Acute Versus Preventive Care
- Affection Exchange Theory
- Ageism
- Agenda Setting
- Amputee Wannabes
- Attribution Theory and Attribution Error
- Biological Citizenship
- Biopower and Biopolitics
- Care Model and Productive Interaction
- Change Approaches, Transtheoretical and Stages of
- Communication Accommodation Theory
- Communication Privacy Management Theory
- Communication Theory of Identity
- Community Resilience
- Control Theory
- Critical Approaches
- Cultivation Theory
- Cultural Variance Model
- Culture-Centered Approaches
- Cyberchondria
- Diffusion of Innovations Model
- Double ABC-X Model of Family Stress and Coping
- Dual-Processing Models
- Ecological Perspectives
- Encoded Exposure and Aided Versus Unaided Awareness
- Ethic of Care
- Ethics: Campaigns
- Ethics: Health Communication Strategies
- Ethics: New Technologies
- Ethics: Overall
- Ethics: Provider–Patient Interaction
- Ethnography
- Ethnomethodology
- Fatalism
- Fear Appeals and the Extended Parallel Process Model
- Framing
- Generative Tensions in Health Communication Theory
- Globalization Theory
- Grounded Theory
- Harm Reduction Theory
- Health Belief Model
- Health Locus of Control
- Hofstede's Dimensions of Culture
- Inconsistent Nurturing as Control Theory
- Inoculation Effects
- Invisible Disabilities
- Loose Versus Tight Coupling
- Media Complementarity Theory
- Medicalization
- Message Sensation Value
- Meta-Analysis
- Metaphor
- Metatheory
- Motivational Interviewing
- Multilevel Modeling
- Narrative Engagement Theory
- Narrative Medicine
- Narratives and Barrier Reduction
- Narratives: Health Campaigns
- Narratives: Overall
- Narratives: Social Marketing
- Negotiated Morality Theory
- Olson's Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems
- Organization–Public Relations Theory
- O-S-O-R Model
- Perceived Effectiveness
- Phenomenology
- Photovoice
- Placebo Effects
- Problematic Integration Theory
- Problem-Based Learning
- Psychological Reactance
- Psychometric Theory and Reliability/Validity of Measures
- Realism
- Reconceptualized Health Belief Model
- Relational Dialectics Theory
- Relational Health Communication Competence Model
- Resilience
- Rhetoric: Health and Medicine
- Risk Communication: Instructional Principles
- Risk Communication: Social Construction Perspective
- Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model
- Risk Perception Attitude Framework
- Self-Determination Theory
- Self-Efficacy
- Situational Theory and Communication Behaviors
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Comparison Theory
- Social Construction: Reality
- Social Judgment Theory
- Social Networks and Message Delivery
- Social Networks, Measurement of
- Social Networks: Overall
- Societal Risk Reduction Motivation Model
- Sociometric Social Networks
- Structural Violence and Health
- Systems Theory
- Theory of Motivated Information Management
- Theory of Normative Social Behavior
- Theory of Planned Behavior
- Theory of Reasoned Action
- Traditions of Health Communication Theory
- Trait Approaches
- Uncertainty Management Theory
- Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Weick's Model of Organizing
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