The effect of problem solving education on food behavior self-efficacy in overweight or obese women

Women have an important role in shaping healthy food behaviors in the family, and the belief to their ability in this field is a sign of their self-efficacy. problem-solving by making different solutions could be effective in creating this ability. this study was carried out in order to determine the effect of problem solving education on food behavior self-efficacy in overweight or obese women in urmia. the study is a semiexperimental one with a pre-test and post-test design carried out on 90 women with overweight or obese supervised by health centers in urmia. the samples were selected with disposability method and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. educational intervention in the experimental group was done via the problem solving sessions in the form of six training sessions. the post-test was conducted after 2 months with completing demographic information and food behaviors selfefficacy questionnaire again. data analysis was done with descriptive and analytical test (paired t-test, independent t-test, and chi-square). self-efficacy score mean improved from 11.52±4.03 to 15.90±3.85 in the experimental group. there was an increase in the good food behavior self-efficacy in the experimental group from %3.14 to %8.54, but the change wasn’t significant in the control group. the problem solving approach can promote self-efficacy food behaviors in overweight or obese women via involving them in the process of thinking and problem solving through expressing thoughts and exchanging experiences.