Effects of online-guided group self-help program on female nursing students’ attempts to cope with their emotional eating and uncontrolled eating behaviors: A quasi-experimental study

INTRODUCTION: Short-term internet-based and online group cognitive behavioral therapy practices affect young people’s and women’s attempts to cope with their emotional eating (EE) and uncontrolled eating (UE) behaviors in the long term. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an online- guided self-help group program (GSH) on healthy female nursing students’ EE and UE behaviors.
METHODS: This quasi-experimental study without a control group which has the pre-test, post-test, and 6-month follow-up design was carried out with 24 3rd- and 4th-year young female nursing students studying at a Faculty of Nursing between March 2021 and June 2021. The data were collected using three-factor eating questionnaire (TFEQ) and an emotional eater questionnaire (EEQ). The online group GSH consists of six online group sessions.
RESULTS: In the study, the mean scores the students obtained from the data collection tools in terms of such variables as thinking that they eat fast, weighing status, feeling negative about their weight, and being satisfied with their body image changed for the better significantly right after the online group GSH (p<0.05). The mean scores the students obtained from sub-dimensions of the TFEQ (χ2=15.205, p<0.001; χ2=31.224, p<0.001) and from the EEQ (χ2=21.622, p<0.001) decreased right after and 6 months after the online group GSH.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In this study, the online group GSH conducted with female nursing students affected their coping with EE and UE behaviors positively. This suggests that self-help interventions can be implemented to improve the eating behaviors of female.