Towards Individual Profile Analysis for Obesity Treatment: Actual and Self-Judged Knowledge of Nutrition and Dieting and Perceived Self-Efficacy

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Abstract
This paper describes the first stage in the development of a diagnostic instrument for the individualization of obesity treatment, focused on cognitive and motivational factors likely to be relevant for successful and maintained weight reduction. A 145-item questionnaire was completed by 44 overweight subjects. The results indicate that most subjects were convinced that their knowledge of nutritional basics and physiology of dieting was sufficient or high, while in most cases it was actually low. Most subjects had strong self-percepts of efficacy. Another conspicuous finding was the great interindividual variability, frequently reflecting a lack of correspondence between the actual knowledge level, the self-judgement of it, and the perceived self-efficacy. The results support the idea of a diagnostic instrument yielding individual patient profiles including the factors mentioned above.