A study on factors affecting women's willingness to pay for weight gain control

Obesity represents an economical setback for the country, and its outbreak threatens the public health. The present study aimed at studying factors affecting women’s willingness to pay (WTP) for controlling weight gain and treating obesity.
A researcher-designed questionnaire survey consisting 450 women was carried out on Mashhad residents in 2014 (Iran). The participants were selected by a convenience sampling method out of people coming to Mellat Park in Mashhad. The questionnaire credibility and reliability were confirmed by a panel of experts, and its reliability was estimated to be >0.7 by Cronbach’s alpha, confirming that the employed measuring tool has had enough credability. Data were collected by face-toface interview and were analyzed by Logit regression model using SPSS (ver. 19) Software Package.
Among participated women, about 86% were willing to pay for controlling weight gain. Mean monthly payment by women to control weight gain was estimated to be 823,110 IRR (Iranian Rials). The variables positively affected WTP included household monthly income (P Participants having higher monthly income were more willing to pay for controlling weight gain. Awareness of the effects of obesity on health had positive influence on WTP. Social impacts of obesity, also, increased women’s WTP for controlling weight gain. Therefore, it is necessary for health policy-makers to design appropriate plans for training the health, social and even economical impacts of obesity in the society in order to motivate people to pay for its control.