ABSTRACT
Body image is an important concern in overweight women; thus, this study was carried out to compare the effect of diet therapy and narrative therapy on improvement of body image. This was an interventional study. Among the women who were referred to the clinic of nutrition and diet therapy, 30 overweight women were selected through randomized sampling and were randomly divided to two interventions and one control group. Group 1 only received diet therapy [for 5 weeks], group 2 received narrative therapy in addition to diet therapy and the control group received no intervention. Narrative therapy was a group therapy that consisted of 12 sessions, each lasting 50 minutes; the sessions were held twice a week. 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 m[2]]. 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. At the beginning of the study, the mean score of body image in the control group was 135.20 and it was 134.60 after the intervention. In group 1, at the beginning of the study the mean score was 148.1 and after the intervention was 147.50. In group 2, at the beginning of the study the mean score 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 improvement of body image [P>0.05]. But narrative therapy was more effective than diet therapy in the improvement of body image in overweight women [P<0.001]. Narrative therapy can better improve body image; thus, this method is more suitable and has greater results in weight loss