The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Therapy on Emotion Regulation and Life Orientation in Obese Women

Obesity is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon, and its control and treatment are outside the scope of a single discipline. Emotion regulation is considered one of the dimensions of obesity pathology. The inability to regulate emotion also affects eating behavior. Emotion is one of the most important psychological factors in eating. Emotion regulation refers to people's efforts to influence and express their emotions. Another psychological factor that may play an important role in obesity among obese women is life orientation. Mindfulness–based stress reduction is effective in the psychological and behavioral characteristics of obese women. Mindfulness–based stress reduction is how mental skills are developed. This approach combines mental meditation, body cognition, and Yoga. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness–based stress reduction therapy in emotion regulation and life orientation among obese women.

The present research was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and follow–up design and a control group. The statistical population included all obese women referred to counseling centers for 12 months from March 2018 to March 2019 in Malayer City, Iran (n=492). The sample size was selected based on the minimum sample size in experimental studies. A total of 30 people (2 groups of 15 people, including one experimental and one control group) were selected as the study sample using the available sampling. The inclusion criteria were body mass index of 30 kg/m2 and above, satisfaction with participating in the counseling course, and not receiving psychological treatment. Subjects responded to the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Granefski et al., 2002) and Life Orientation Test–Revised (Scheier et al., 1994) before and after the interventions and in the follow–up phase (after three months). The experimental group received a mindfulness program in 8 90–minute sessions. The study data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance and LSD post hoc test at a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that mindfulness–based stress reduction significantly improved the regulation of positive and negative emotions and life orientation of obese women (p<0.001). Also, after three months, the average follow–up scores showed the stability of changes over time.

Mindfulness–based stress reduction by changing people's lifestyles, thoughts, and cognition leads to an increase in positive emotion and life orientation and a decrease in negative emotion in obese women.