Attitudes of Obese Women Toward Group Therapy as A method of Increasing Compliance with Therapeutic Program in Gaza Strip, Palestine

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the attitudes of overweight and obese women toward a group therapy in Gaza Strip, and to identify if they prefer group therapy and willing to continue participation in group therapy. The sample of the study consisted of 1004 overweight and obese women who are registered at Ibn El Nafees Center for weight reduction from July 2016 to June 2017. The researcher used descriptive, cross-sectional design, and for data collection constructed selfadministered questionnaire was used and prepared by the researcher, and validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested by a pilot study on 50 participants. The results showed that about half of the study participants were from age group 26 – 45 years, and mean age was 34.43 years, and 87.5% had BMI of ≥ 30. The results also indicated that obese women have positive attitudes towards group therapy with weighted percentage of 84%. Furthermore, the vast majority of obese women (93.1%) preferred group therapy and willing to continue participation in group therapy during their therapeutic program. In addition, women aged 36 – 45 years preferred group therapy compared to women from other age groups, and are willing to continue participation in group therapy, while women aged 46 years and more had higher positive attitudes toward group therapy. Also, there were no significant differences in preference of group therapy and willingness to continue in group therapy related to marital status. Moreover, women who were working preferred group therapy, willing to continue participating in group therapy, and had more positive attitudes toward group therapy. The study concluded that group therapy could be an integrated approach in addition to individualized treatment that may enhance compliance to therapeutic program for weight reduction and control.