Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy on Self-control and Appearance Schema in Obese Women without Diet Regimen

One of the most common psychological problems of obese women is low self-control and appearance schema. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy on self-control and appearance schema in obese women without a di regimen.

This study is a semi-experimental design of pre-test-post-test and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of this research included women with a body mass index above 30 who referred to the Noor Nutrition and Obesity Treatment Clinic in the city of Ray in the year 2022. The sample size consisted of 30 people from the mentioned society who were selected by available sampling method and randomly placed in two experimental and control groups. For the experimental group, the cognitive behavioral group therapy was implemented in 8 sessions of 90 minutes during four weeks, while the control group did not receive training. The research tools included the Self-Control Scale (2004) and the Appearance Schema Inventory (2004), which for both groups, once before the intervention (one day before the beginning of the training), once after the intervention (one day after the completion of the training sessions) and were completed once four weeks after the intervention. For the statistical analysis of the obtained data, the analysis of variance test with repeated measurements was used.

The results showed that the cognitive behavioral group therapy had a significant effect on self-control and appearance schema in the post-test and follow-up stages. Based on the results, the cognitive behavioral group therapy has been significantly effective in improving self-control (F=76.551, p<0.01), self-evaluation (F=44.102, p<0.01) and self-motivation (F=43.136, p<0.01) in obese women without a diet.

The results showed that the cognitive behavioral group therapy has significantly improved self-control and appearance schema in the studied subjects, so the use of this intervention is suggested for obese women who do not have a diet regimen.