The social capital of obese persons: implication for self-help/mutual aid groups and social work practice

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the amount of social capital possessed by obese persons. This is an interesting issue for social work because the relational attitude of users and their social capital are crucial for the efficacy and sustainability of helping actions. The study found that the social capital of a sample of obese persons undergoing obesity treatment in an Italian hospital ward did not differ from that of the general Italian population and no association between the BMI of the obese patients and the characteristics of their social capital was found. Overall the social capital of the obese patients was similar to that of the general population. This can be considered a useful prerequisite for the launching of recovery projects based on the involvement and reinforcement of interpersonal relations, using the social capital of the obese people to communicate and support a course of treatment structured according to the methodology of relational social work, particularly through self-help/mutual aid groups.

SOMMARIO

Nella ricerca presentata in questo articolo si indaga il livello di capitale sociale di cui dispongono le persone obese. Il quesito è interessante per gli interventi di lavoro sociale, in quando l’attitudine relazionale degli utenti e il loro capitale sociale sono cruciali per la efficacia e la sostenibilità degli interventi di aiuto. La ricerca ha preso in esame un campione di persone obese in trattamento presso un reparto ospedaliero italiano. Si è rilevato che trovato che il capitale sociale del campione non differisce da quello della generalità della popolazione italiana e non emerge una associazione tra il BMI dei pazienti obesi e le caratteristiche del loro capitale sociale. Nel complesso, dunque, il capitale sociale delle persone obese risulta analogo a quello della generalità della popolazione. Questo può essere considerato un pre-requisito utile ad avviare progetti di recovery impostati secondo la metodologia del relational social work, basati sul coinvolgimento e il rafforzamento delle relazioni interpersonali e, in particolare, sulla partecipazione ai gruppi di auto/mutuo aiuto.

KEYWORDS:

• Obesity
• overweigh
• social capital
• self-help/mutual aid groups
• relational social work

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• Obesità
• sovrappeso
• capitale sociale
• gruppi di auto/mutuo aiuto
• Relational Social Work

Acknowledgements

The authors thank: Clemente Lanzetti (Catholic University of Milan); Alessandro Sartorio and Erica Cantelli (Istituto Auxologico Italiano); the staff of Unità Operativa di Recupero e Riabilitazione Funzionale a Indirizzo Metabolico dell’Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico of San Giuseppe in Piancavallo Hospital (Piedmont, Italy).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Maria Luisa Raineri is assistant professor of Social Work at Catholic University of Milan. Her research interests are about social work theory and practice, namely the professional practices of Relational Social Work at case, group and community levels. Previously, she worked as social worker in Child Protection and was a board member of a Voluntary Organization that provides services for looked after children.

Francesca Biffi received Ph.D. in Sociology from Catholic University of Milan and she teaches on the Social Work Three-Year Degree at the same University. Her research interests are about managerial work in Personal Social Services and Ethics in social work. She works also as social worker in Child Protection and Social Planning.

Notes

1 It is an European ‘variant’ of Alcoholics Anonymous developed by the Croatian psychiatrist Vladimir Hudolin (Di Salvatore, 2009, ch. 12; Hudolin, 1990).

2 Moore et al. (2009, p. 182) stress that, unlike their research (and that reported here), in the majority studies on social capital and obesity the data relative to weight and height are self-reported.

3 Body mass index = weight (kg) / height (m²). Grade I obesity corresponds to a BMI between 30 and 34.9; grade II obesity to a BMI between 35 and 40; grade III obesity to a BMI > 40.

4 Through this analysis clusters are not searched, since they are predetermined by the researcher, based on indices or variables specifically recoded on different levels. So, the constrained one is not a cluster analysis in the strict sense, even if it uses the same procedures and the same tests in data analysis, namely:

• A similarity measure (test value) between the category of a variable and the group defined by that cluster. This test identifies what variables (and their categories) best characterize a particular group, by ordering them from highest to lowest value. Generally a test value equal to or greater than 2 is deemed significant;

• The value of the test value significance, which is good if lower than 0.05;

• The degree of inclusion of a feature in the examined group. It corresponds to the percentage of obese people with that feature included in that cluster, and this percentage is calculated on the total obese people sharing the same features;

• The ratio of obese people included in a group and having a particular feature, and the total units of that group (feature/cluster); and the percentage in the entire sample of people who have that feature (overall percentage). The comparison between these two percentages points out the strong or slight difference between the whole sample and the sub-sample represented by that group, about that particular feature (Lanzetti, 2012).