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Volume 26, Issue 1 (Spring 2024)                   JHC 2024, 26(1): 7-21 | Back to browse issues page

Ethics code: IR.IAU.K.REC.1399.006

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Ebrahimi E, Mohammadi Shirmahaleh F, Mardani Hamooleh M, Avatef Fazeli M, Habibi Asgarabad M. Obese Young Women’s Lived Experiences of Psychological Factors Resulting Emotional Eating: a Phenomenological Study. JHC 2024; 26 (1) :7-21
URL: http://hcjournal.arums.ac.ir/article-1-1433-en.html
Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Dragvoll, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Abstract:   (204 Views)
Background: Emotional eating is harmful to health and it has a high incidence in obese people, especially obese women. Therefore, it is important to recognize the causing factors. The purpose of this study was to explore obese young women’s lived experiences of psychological factors resulting emotional eating.
Methods: A qualitative study using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach was conducted. A purposive sampling method was used to select 17 young women experiencing emotional eating with a body mass index of 30 or higher. Diekelmann and colleagues’ method was used to analyze the data collected through face-to-face, individual and semistructured interviews.
Results: Regarding psychological factors related to emotional eating behavior, the theme of "psychological problems" was identified. This theme includes 6 sub-themes including: "Insecure attachment", "emotional deprivation", "lack of self-compassion", "rumination of negative thoughts", "psychological resistance in motivational structure" and "psychological inflexibility in moral-religious considerations".
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that a number of psychological factors play a role in creating women's emotional eating behavior. These factors are interrelated and some of them are the underlying causes of other factors. In other words; these factors in link together to create and maintain emotional eating behavior. The results of this study may provide insights for planning effective preventive and therapeutic interventions for emotional overeating and weight management in women.
Full-Text [PDF 309 kb]   (132 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Psychiatric Nursing
Received: 2023/02/5 | Accepted: 2023/10/19 | Published: 2024/03/29

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