THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY ON ENHANCING OF SELF-EFFICACY AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG WOMEN WITH OBESITY

Obesity is one of the mental health problems in the world that have important risk factors for mental and physical health. Self-efficacy is an important component that plays critical role in reduction of women weight. This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on enhancing self-efficacy and mental health among women with obesity. The design of the study is quasi-experimental design with pre/post test with a control group. 30 women with obesity were selected by available sampling method and randomly allocated into two groups: experimental group and one control group. The independent variable was cognitive-behavioral therapy which was administrated in 8 sessions on the experimental group while the control group did not receive any treatment. The research instrument was General HealthQuestionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and self-efficacy Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using covariance analysis. The results of the study showed significant differences between the mean scores of the pre-test and post-test of the experimental and control groups, so cognitive behavioral therapy improved mental health and increased self-efficacy mean score in the experimental group (p<0.001). The findings of the study indicate that cognitive behavior therapy can improve mental health and increase self-efficacy. Therefore, it can be considered as an effective method for encountering and coping with obesity.