ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Eating Behavior
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1585765
Helpful factors of group cognitive behavioral therapy in overweight and obese college students
Provisionally accepted
- Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
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Objective: To explore the helpful factors of Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in overweight and obese college students. Methods: Twelve overweight and obese college students were selected to receive Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather insights on their perceived helpful factors during the intervention, and thematic analysis was employed to process the interview data. Results: The cognitive-behavioral weight loss group intervention had three categories of helpful factors: 1) "Cognitive Adjustment and Skill Learning," including thought recognition and transformation, emotional experience and acceptance, motor learning and practice, dietary adjustments and changes, and knowledge assimilation and experimentation. 2) "group process and motivational factors," including a sense of belonging and cohesion, information transfer and facilitation, and a sense of self-efficacy. 3) "Gains and overall results," including healthy living and weight loss, renewed hope, and a positive mindset. Conclusion: Group cognitive behavioral therapy achieves group weight loss through the synergistic effects of multiple factors.
Keywords: Group cognitive behavioral therapy1, Helpful factors2, Thematic analysis method3, Overweight and obese college students4, Qualitative research5
Received: 21 Mar 2025; Accepted: 27 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zhao and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zixian Zhao, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
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