Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Transtheoretical Model and CognitiveBehavioral Therapy in Adolescents' Eating Behavior and Weight Loss

Nutrition education is a key component of health promotion programs and leads to improvement of nutritional behaviors of adolescents. Understanding the stages of cognitive-behavioral therapy in eating behavior and weight loss in adolescents is important.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the transtheoretical model and cognitive-behavioral therapy on eating behavior and weight loss in adolescents.

The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a two-month follow-up with the control group. The statistical population consisted of all adolescents referred to counseling centers in Mashhad in autumn 2019; 45 of them were selected by convenience sampling method and were divided into 3 experimental, second, and control groups. The research questionnaires were Cappelleri et al.'s (2009) eating behavior questionnaire. Data analyzed by analysis of covariance test using SPSS.25 software.

The results showed that the effectiveness of the transtheoretical model and cognitive-behavioral therapy was different on eating behavior so that cognitive-behavioral therapy is more effective than the transtheoretical model (p <0.001).

Cognitive-behavioral therapy on eating behavior and weight loss of adolescents was more effective in comparison with the model of the change process. It is suggested that cognitive-behavioral therapy should be considered in the treatment of appropriate principles of nutrition and control of adolescents' weight.