Barriers to Weight Management Among Overweight and Obese Firefighters.

Objective: To examine barriers to weight management among firefighters.

Methods: Health risk data collected on 2373 overweight firefighters were used for this cross-sectional study. Barriers to weight management were the dependent variables and demographic characteristics, readiness for change, and health risk factors were the correlates in the multivariate-adjusted logistic models.

Results: Overweight firefighters who were ready to begin a weight management program were more likely to identify "lack of knowledge about weight management," "lack of access to exercise opportunities," and "eating helps me cope with stress" and report a greater number of barriers toward weight management. Older firefighters were less likely to identify or report one or more barriers to weight management.

Conclusion: Understanding barriers, readiness for change, and age may be useful in planning interventions to help firefighters better manage their weight.