The effectiveness of group-based cognitive-behavioral stress management on somatic symptoms and satisfaction with therapy and therapist in obese females

Introduction: Today, obesity is one of the health problems and a risk factor in many diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and various types of cancers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of group-based cognitive-behavioral stress management on somatic symptoms and satisfaction with therapy and therapist in obese females. Materials and Methods: The statistical population of this clinical trial consisted of women referring to health centers in Zanjan city, Iran in 2018. Three centers were chosen and 30 obese women were selected by the convenient sampling method. They were randomly divided into two groups of experimental and control (n=15). Before and after the intervention and also 3 months later, the subjects completed Somatic Symptoms and Client Satisfaction Questionnaires. The experimental group received cognitive-behavioral stress management based on Michael, Anthony, Ironson and Schneiderman protocol and no intervention was carried out on control group during this period. Data analyzed through variance analysis and SPSS-24. Results: The results of variance analysis with repeated measures showed that F value of somatic symptoms is 12.02 of satisfaction with therapy and therapist is 36.02 which are significant at the level of 0.001. These findings showed that the experimental and control groups were significantly different considering research variables in the three stages of pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Conclusion: According to the results, it seems that cognitive-behavioral stress management approach improves somatic symptoms and satisfaction with therapy and therapist in obese females.