The Effect of Aerobic Exercise Training Program on Mental Health and Body Image Concern of Women with Obesity Stigma

Not only obesity itself, but also the side effects of obesity that affect mental and social health, which sometimes the treatment of these side effects in helping people is given priority over the treatment of obesity. Obesity stigma as biased attitude toward obese individuals can be associated with mental health and body image concerns of women with obesity stigma, is a side effect. Meanwhile, exercise, and especially aerobic exercise training program as reinforces of psychological and physiological functions, can be considered as factors affecting the mental health and body image concerns of women with obesity stigma. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of aerobic exercise program on mental health and body image concerns of women with obesity stigma.

The research method is semi-experimental with one-group pretest-posttest design. So, 20 young women with obesity stigma were selected according to the DSM-5 diagnostic interview for eating disorders and the weight self-stigma questionnaire (Lillis et al. 2010) by convenience sampling method, then were assessed at the beginning and end of the aerobic exercise training program using the 28-item Mental Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hiller, 1979) and Body Image Concerns Inventory (Littleton, 2005).

Finally, data were analyzed using Uni/Multivariate analysis of variance. According to the results, the aerobic exercise training program increased mental health and reduced body image anxiety in women with obesity stigma.

Therefore, exercise programs can influence women's obesity and its associated dimensions, along with psychological intervention