Television Time and the Relationship to Obesity in Adults with Visual Impairments
Preferred Citation
Lenz, E. K., Starkoff, B. E., Foley, J. T., & Lieberman, L. J. (2015). Television time and the relationship to obesity in adults with visual impairments. Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research, 5(2). Retrieved from https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/jbir/jbir15/jbir050203.html. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5241/5-79
Abstract
Introduction:Television and movie watching (TV time) has been linked to deleterious health outcomes. TV time of individuals with visual impairments (VI) and the relationship between TV time and body mass index was explored. Methods: Participants (N = 140; M = 36, SD = 13.3 years) classified as B1-B4 levels of VI completed the Patient-centered Assessment and Counseling for Exercise Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire. Results: TV time was greater on the weekends, with a larger percentage of individuals watching > 2 hours on weekends compared to weekdays (χ2 (1) = 36.73, p < 0.01). On the weekends, a difference in TV time between visual acuity was noted in males (χ2 (8) = 17.16, p = 0.03). Individuals who engaged in more than 2 hours of TV time during the weekday were 2.89 times more likely to be obese compared to those watching less than 2 hours of TV (p = 0.036). Conclusion: Those spending more than 2 hours watching TV on weekdays were more likely to be obese. Therefore, excessive TV time may play a substantial role in contributing to obesity in individuals with VI.
Keywords
Visual impairment, sedentary behavior, PACE+ SBQ, physical activity, blind, body mass index
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5241/5-79
The Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research is copyright (c) 2015 to the National Federation of the Blind.