CHANGES IN EATING BEHAVIOR IN PERSONS WITH OBESITY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL THERAPY PROGRAM

Objectives: to determine changes in eating behavior in women and men with obesity under the influence of the developed physical therapy program, taking into account the level of rehabilitation compliance. Methods. Interviews were conducted with 288 people of the second adulthood with obesity. According to the results of a preliminary determination of rehabilita-tion compliance, they were divided into two groups. The comparison group consisted of individuals with a low level of compliance; they did not undergo a rehabilitation program to reduce body weight, but were informed about the complications of obesity; acquainted with the basic principles of hypocaloric nutrition and physical activity. The main group consisted of individuals with a high level of compliance. They underwent a one-year developed program for correcting body weight using measures to maintain the achieved level of compliance, nutrition modification, increased physical activity, lymphatic drainage procedures, and elements of behavioral psy-chocorrection. The control group consisted of 60 people with normal body weight. The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire de-termined eating disorder. Results. The degree of eating disorder (severity in points) depended on the degree of obesity and was the highest in stage III obesity. The restrictive type of eating behavior was not characteristic of patients with obesity in general. Emoti-ogenic eating behavior in women with all degrees of obesity turned out to be statistically significant more often compared to men (p <0.05). At the same time, the external type of eating behavior was characteristic of men. In all groups of patients, numerous cases of a mixed type of eating disorder were determined, which indicates severe violations of the psycho-emotional sphere, the presence of certain eating habits, fixed by an appropriate long unhealthy lifestyle. During the initial examination of the obese main and comparison groups, there was no statistically signifi-cant difference between the corresponding parameters (p> 0.05). A group of patients with obesity of the first de-gree against the background of normalization of body weight after the rehabilitation program reached levels of eating behavior in the control group. In case of obesity of the II degree, both gender groups also showed significant positive dynamics in the change in attitude to eating food, although not as signifi-cantly as in obesity of the I degree. Changes in the group of patients with grade III obesity were also significant, but also did not reach normal values. In persons of the comparison group, despite the awareness of the ways of correcting body weight, positive changes after the summer observation period were not detected. Conclusions. The use of non-drug measures to normalize body weight leads to a decrease in the number of women and men with eating disorders. Therefore, in rehabilitation programs for obese patients, it is necessary to use not only a variety of means and methods of physi-cal therapy (massage, kinesiotherapy, nutrition modifica-tion), but also direct them to the etiological factor of overeating - a psychological violation of eating behavior. The key to successful weight loss and its maintenance should be the active recognition and aware-ness of the patient the presence of problems of their own obesity and the development of the desire to overcome it based on the identified type of eating behavior.