Body Image and Women's Mental Health: An Evaluation of a Group Intervention Program

Body image is a person's perception of how their physical body appears to them including feelings and attitudes towards it. A negative body image affects women's mental and physical health. A cognitive behavioral group intervention program was designed and implemented for women identifying as having body image concerns. It targeted risk factors important in the development and maintenance of body image dissatisfaction aiming to improve body image and self-esteem evaluated through pre and post intervention questionnaires. Results for the 19 participants showed improvements in body satisfaction and self-esteem and decrease in body image distress compared to the control group (n = 28) who showed no change in body image and self-esteem.