Therapeutic Outcome of Self-Control and Social Interaction Interventions on Negative Body Image among in-school Adolescents with Low Health literacy in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Low health literacy is found to be consistently associated with negative body image. This study examined the effectivenessof Self-Control Therapy (SCT) and Social Interaction Skills Training (SIST) in managing negative body image among senior secondary school students with low health literacy in Southwest Nigeria. The design is pretest-post-test, control group quasi-experimental while the factorial matrix adopted was 3×2×3. Through multi-stage sampling, three Catholic Senior Secondary Schools in Southwest Nigeria were selected. Ninety (90) students, (Males=34, Females= 56) with age range of 14 years to 16 years were randomly selected and assigned to treatment conditions. The experimental groups were exposed to ten Sessions of treatments while the control group served as a comparison group. Body Self-Image Questionnaire-Short Form (BSIQ-SF) (α=0.83), Health Literacy Scale(α=0.88), and Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (α=0.81) were used for data collection while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Bonferroni test were used for data analysis. Results showed a significant main effect of the treatments on the negative body image of the adolescents (F (2, 90) = 1602.50; partial η2=0.98). Participants in SCT had the least adjusted post-test mean score (34.07), followed by SIST (35.23) and control (66.13) groups. Sex of the participants had no significant interaction effect on the treatment outcome. Participants with high self-esteem had a better reduction in managing negative body image (44.27) than those with moderate self-esteem (44.51) and low self-esteem (47.30). A two-way interaction effect of treatments and self-esteem was found. This result provides support for the use of SCT and SIST to manage negative body image of senior secondary school students. These two therapies are therefore, recommended to stakeholders as viable therapies for the treatment of negative body image.