The Effect of Solution-Focused Group Counseling on Emotional Eating Levels in University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Emotional eating is a risk factor for obesity. It should be recognized and prevented at an early stage. The randomised control trial study aimed to determine the effect of internet-based solution-focused short-term group counseling on emotional eating levels in nursing students. Sixty students were assigned to the experimental and control groups by simple random sampling method. Those in the experimental group received of solution-focused counseling, and those in the control group received of healthy nutrition training. The data analysed by chi-square test, paired sample <i>t</i> test, groups <i>t</i>-test and repeated groups Anova test. A <i>p</i>-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test, post-test and follow-up test body mass indexes of those in the experimental group (<i>p</i> < .05). In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between the group's pre- and post-test emotional eating scores (<i>p</i> < .05), and no statistically significant difference was found between their Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale scores (<i>p</i> > .05). The short-term solution-focused approach was found to be effective in reducing the emotional eating levels of students.