The effect of mindfulness-based education on self-compassion and emotion regulation in obese girls

Abstract

Background and Aim: The overweight and obesity have spread among many communities and countries in recent years. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness training on emotion self-regulation and self-compassion in obese girls. Methods: The present study was quasi-experimental and had a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all obese girls who visited Mehr Counseling Clinic of Tehran in 2020. A total of 40 girls were selected by the convenience sampling method and randomly divided into experimental (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. Research tools included the emotion regulation questionnaire (Gross and John, 2003), and self-compassion scale (Neff, 2006). The experimental group received 10 one-hour sessions of mindfulness training twice a week but the control group did not receive any intervention. Data analysis was performed by ‎descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and analysis of covariance by SPSS 26. Results: The results indicated that mindfulness training had a positive and significant effect on increasing the self-compassion score in participants in the experimental group (P<0.05). There was a significant difference in emotion regulation scores between the two groups in the post-test (P<0.05). Conclusion: The research results indicated that mindfulness training was effective in improving self-compassion and emotion regulation of girls with obesity. The researcher suggests a 3-month follow-up period to achieve reliable results.