[cosc-grad-students-list] THESIS DEFENSE NOTICE - UNDERSTANDING OBESITY SELF-AWARENESS IN CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS THROUGH SPATIAL ANALYSIS

[Eulenfeld, Menda]

THESIS DEFENSE NOTICE



GEOSPATIAL SYSTEM ENGINEERING PROGRAM

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCES

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-CORPUS CHRISTI



SUBJECT: UNDERSTANDING OBESITY SELF-AWARENESS IN CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS THROUGH SPATIAL ANALYSIS




SPEAKER: Emily Brennan

ADVISOR: Dr. Lucy Huang



DATE: Friday, November 14th

TIME: 9:00 AM (UC Central Time)

PLACE: NRC 1232 Conference Room




ABSTRACT



Obesity is an increasing public health concern in Corpus Christi, Texas with rates projected to reach 50% by 2030 if no interventions are taken. Accurate self-awareness of one's weight status is essential for promoting healthy behavior and effective intervention. However, few studies have examined obesity self-awareness and its social and spatial determinants. This thesis aims to better understand obesity self-awareness in Corpus Christi by identifying social, behavioral, and neighborhood environment factors associated with mismatches between perceived and actual weight categories. To achieve this goal, this thesis has three specific objectives: 1) to characterize the spatial distribution of food store categories - including groceries/supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, and convenience stores; 2) to examine the relationship among individual's perceived, self-reported, and measured weight categories; and 3) to investigate the impact of various factors (e.g., access to healthy/unhealthy food stores, sociodemographic, lifestyle, neighborhood environment) on obesity self-awareness. Two primary datasets were analyzed: 1) a business location dataset in Corpus Christi from Data Axle, classified by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, and 2) survey data from 405 Corpus Christi adults collected at community health events. The survey included participants' perceived, self-reported, and measured weight information, residential zip codes/home addresses, and data on demographics, lifestyle, and neighborhood characteristics. Kernel density analysis revealed that food stores are unevenly distributed across the city, with limited access to grocery stores, but widespread clustering of fast-food restaurants. Bland-Altman plots showed strong agreement between self-reported and measured weight categories while weighted Cohen's kappa showed low agreement between perceived and self-reported weight categories.

Logistic regression results underscored significant relationships between food environment and weight self-awareness. Greater access to healthy food stores was associated with improved accuracy in weight self-perception, while greater access to unhealthy food stores was associated with reduced accuracy. Hispanics compared to Non-Hispanics had decreased accuracy and those with college level educational attainment had increased accuracy compared to those with a high school diploma or less. Additionally, respondents who agreed they eat healthy had decreased accuracy in weight self-perception compared to those who disagreed. This study underscores the importance of obesity self-awareness and its underlying social and spatial determinants. The findings can inform targeted obesity prevention and intervention efforts to promote healthier food environments and improve obesity self-awareness in Corpus Christi and beyond, as the city's obesity prevalence closely mirrors national trends.



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