The Effectiveness of Group Reality Therapy in Improving Self-Esteem, Uniqueness, and Body Image of Cosmetic Surgery Applicants

The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of group reality therapy in improving the self-esteem, uniqueness, and body image of cosmetic surgery applicants.

The present quasi-experimental study was a pre-test-post-test with a control group and a 45-day follow-up period. The statistical population consisted of 150 cosmetic surgery applicants who visited Espadana Cosmetic Surgery Center in Isfahan in 2016. After screening, we selected 30 individuals using convenience sampling and randomly divided them into two groups, control (n=15) and experimental (n=15) groups. The experimental group was treated in 10 sessions for 90 minutes. At the pre-test and post-test stages and the follow-up period, both groups responded to self-esteem (Eysenck, 1976), body image (Cash et al., 1997), and uniqueness (Şimşek and Yale Einstein, 2010) questionnaires. We analyzed data using repeated-measures analysis of variance.

The results indicated that group reality therapy had effects on self-esteem (F=20.10, P=0.001), uniqueness (F=69.78, P=0.001), and body image (F=35.80, P=0.001) of applicants for cosmetic surgery and the effect was stable in the follow-up phase.

Given the research findings, reality therapy increased the uniqueness and also improved the body image in participants and the therapy was recommended for cosmetic surgery applicants in the Iranian society.