P103: The Effect of Educating Mindfulness to Reduce Physical Anxiety in Obese Women in Karaj County

Obesity is one of the most serious problems concerning health in the world today. Many problems, ranged from the risk of early death and chronic diseases that reduce life quality to psychological disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are consequences of obesity. The objective of this research is to study the effect of educating mindfulness to obese women in order to relieve their anxiety. Mindfulness, focus on becoming aware of all incoming thoughts and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them. The goal of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is to teach the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli and instead accepting and observing them without judgment. This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when automatic processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more of a reflection. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test research plan was devised in this research and as well a control group. The population included the obese women who had paid a visit to two obesity treatment clinics in Karaj. Forty five out of these women, who scored highest degree of anxiety based on the related scale, were chosen. After replication, the persons were randomly divided into the treatment and control groups. Research tools were demographic data physical, cognitive, behavioral and SCBAI anxiety questionnaires. The treatment group was provided with lessons on mindfulness based on cognitive therapy in eight sessions once a week but the control group did not receive any education. To analyze the data the analysis of covariance and the analysis of variance with replicated measurements were used. The result of the research showed intervention reduced physical anxiety significantly (P=0.001). The treatment endured at least for 45 days. According to findings of this research, mindfulness education can be employed as an effective intervention to reduce physical anxiety in obese women.