Introduction:

Overweight and obesity are risk factors for multiple chronic diseases. However, they can be controlled if there is an adequate level of knowledge of their general elements, which is often unknown.

Objective:

To apply an educational intervention related to overweight and obesity in the adult population of the rural parish of San Gerardo in Chimborazo Province, Ecuador.

Methods:

An applied research was developed, with a quasiexperimental design, consisting in an educational intervention with adults. The universe consisted of 474 people, 213 of whom made up the research sample. The intervention included theoretical and practical activities developed during four months. A research questionnaire was applied to identify the level of knowledge. Nutritional status was determined by determining the body mass index. McNemar's nonparametric test was applied to identify changes in the level of knowledge after the application of the educational intervention.

Results:

The average age was 44.23 years, while there was a predominance of females (60.56 %). At least one disease was reported by 41.78% of the people, with arterial hypertension (50.56 %) being the most represented. At the beginning of the study, people with low level of knowledge predominated (70.89 %); during the posttest, 55.87 % reached a medium level and 34.27 % reached a high level.

Conclusions:

During the pretest, the level of knowledge related to overweight and obesity of the people who participated in the research was low. After the educational intervention, their level of knowledge was medium, followed by people with a high level. The application of this intervention contributes to overweight and obesity control.

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