Volume 26, Issue 119, January 2022

Transdiagnostic treatment (UP-A) on shame, self-criticism, emotional eating and emotional dysregulation in obese adolescents: A randomized controlled trial

Parastoo Naeimijoo¹, Abbas Masjedi Arani^2♦, Maryam Bakhtiari³, Gholamreza Mohammadi Farsani⁴

¹Ph.D candidate, Department of Clinical Psychology, school of medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
²Associate professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, school of medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
³Associate professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, school of medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
⁴Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

^♦Corresponding author
Associate professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, school of medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment – adolescent version- on shame, self-criticism, emotional eating and difficulties in emotion regulation in adolescents suffering from obesity. Method: In a randomized controlled trial, 30 female adolescents were recruited by convenience sampling from three nutrition clinics and randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The experimental group went through 16 weekly treatment sessions of UP-A. Both groups were assessed at pre-tests and re-assessed after the intervention and 3 months follow-up. Body image shame scale, difficulties in emotion regulation scale, self-criticizing and reassuring scale, and emotional eating subscale of Dutch eating behavior questionnaire, and were used to measure body shame, self-critical attitudes, emotional eating, and emotional dysregulations, respectively. Results: Mixed analysis of variance (P-value <0.05) showed that UP-A significantly reduced body shame (F=19.28, P=0.00, η2=0.40), self-criticism including {inadequate Self (F=11.22, P=0.00, η2=0.28), Hated Self (F=9.66, P=0.00, η2=0.25), Reassuring Self (F=11.01, P=0.00, η2=0.28)}; emotional eating (F=13.94, P=0.00, η2=0.33) and difficulties in emotion regulation (F=10.41, P=0.00, η2=0.27) in teens with obesity. Conclusion: The findings suggest that UP-A treatment offers a promising avenue through which emotional problems could be alleviated in obese adolescents.

Keywords: obesity, unified transdiagnostic treatment, shame, self-criticism, emotional eating, emotion regulation

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms38e1978

PDF

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i119/ms38e1978

Published: 19 January 2022