The comparison between efficacy of narrative therapy and diet therapy on body image in women with overweight and obesity

This study was carried out according to importance of body image in overweight women, and in order to compare the effect of diet therapy and narrative therapy on the body image improvement. This was a quasi experimental-interventional study. 30 overweight women were selected through randomized sampling method within women who referred to professional clinic of nutrition and diet therapy and they randomly divided to two interventions and one control group. Group 1 only received diet therapy (for 5weeks), group 2 received narrative therapy in addition to diet therapy and control group received no intervention. Narrative therapy was a group therapy that consisted of 12 sessions and each session last 50 minutes that performed twice a week. Control group received no intervention. Weight of subjects was measured with light cloths by a Seca balance scale to the nearest 0.5 kg and their height was measured by stadio-meter to 0.5 cm. Body Mass Index was calculated by dividing weight (in kg) to squared height (in m2). Data of Body Image were gathered through Multidimensional Body-Self Relation Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by covariance analysis, Tukey and paired t test using SPSS 16 software. The mean of body image at the beginning of the study in the control group, was 135.20 and it was134.60 after the intervention. In group 1, at the beginning of the study the mean was 148.1 and after the intervention was 147.50. In group 2, at the beginning of the study the mean was 150.80 and after the intervention the result was 163.90. Data analysis showed that at the end of the study diet therapy had no significant effect on developing of body image (P>0.05). But narrative therapy was more effective than diet therapy in developing of body image in overweight women (P<0.001). ‍ According to effect of narrative therapy on body image development, this method is more suitable than the other methods which have greater results in weight loss.