Efficacy of instructing cognitive-behavioral stress management on attitude changes towards sub-scales of eating disorders among female students

This study was conducted to examine the efficacy of instructing cognitive-behavioral stress management on attitude changes towards sub-scales of eating disorders among female students. The research method was semi-experimental, with the control and experimental group as well as implementation of pre-test and post-test phases. The sample included 20 students (10 students in experiment group and 10 in control group) who were selected from district 5 in Isfahan using Cluster random sampling method. The research measurement tool adopted was The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). Data obtained were analyzed utilizing SPSS18 software and Covariance Analysis Test. Having implemented the intervention phase, the mean score of attitudes decreased from 22.80 before instruction to 14 after instruction for Anorexia Nervosa and from 16 to 9.60 for Bulimia Nervosa and from 15.10 to 9.70 for Mouth Control. Moreover, results of Covariance Analysis revealed effect amounts of 0.88, 0.89 and 0.82 for sub-scales of Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Mouth Control respectively (P<0.001), while no statistically meaningful difference was observed after intervention regarding eating disorders in the control group. Taking the research results into account, Cognitive-behavioral Treatment in stress management can be used as a selective treatment style in order to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, which have an effective role in affection with eating disorders.