Comparing the Effectiveness of Body Appreciation Training and Self-Healing Training for Food Cravings and Weight Control Self-Efficacy among Overweight Women

Food cravings and weight control self-efficacy are psychological issues that can initially and steadily lead to the phenomenon of overweight. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of body appreciation training and self-healing training for food cravings and weight control self-efficacy among overweight women. The method included pretest posttest quasi-experimental design with control group and quarterly follow-up period. Among overweight women referring to control and weight loss centers in Isfahan, 45 were purposed selected and randomly assigned to three groups. The first experimental group participated in 14 weekly 90-minute sessions of body appreciation training and the second experimental group received 14 sessions of 90 minutes and weekly self-healing training. Also, the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. The research instruments were food cravings and weight-bearing self-efficacy questionnaires. The results of repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that in the variables of food cravings and weight control self-efficacy, there was a significant difference between body appreciation training group and self-healing training group with control group. However, there was no significant difference between body appreciation training group and self-healing training group. According to the results, body appreciation training and self-healing training can be used to reduce food cravings and increase self-efficacy related to weight control in overweight women.