The effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction on caregiving in romantic relationships of overweight women: A quasi-experimental design

Background: Taking care of romantic relationships in couples depends on marital satisfaction and a better understanding of each other’s needs. Physical changes such as weight gain and obesity can make people develop negative perceptions of their body and appearance and endanger caregiving for romantic relationships in couples. Objectives: The present study aimed to examine the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) therapy in caring for romantic relationships in overweight women. Methods: This experimental study was conducted with a pre-test and post-test design on 30 overweight women. A total of 30 women were selected using convenience and were placed block randomization method in the experimental and control groups (each with 15 members). The experimental group received the MBSR intervention in twelve 90-minute sessions. The data were collected using the Caregiving Questionnaire (CQ; Kunce Shaver, 1994) and analyzed through multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) in SPSS-v24 software. Results: The findings showed that the MBSR intervention significantly improved caregiving in romantic relationships in overweight women who underwent the intervention. F value calculated for the pre-intervention and post-intervention scores for the components of proximity (F=17.56, p=0.001), sensitivity (F=8.08, p=0.001), cooperation (F=42.05, p=0.001), and non-obsessive control (F=24.31, p=0.001) were significant. Conclusion: MBSR techniques can lead to adaptive behaviors and positive psychological states in women and improve romantic behavior. MBSR, when used with weight loss treatments, can help to enhance the satisfaction with and quality of marital relationships in married women.