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Emotional Eating and Cultural Norms in Iranian Women with Obesity: A Phenomenological Study
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| Ehteram Ebrahimi, Fatemeh Mohammadi Shirmahaleh, Marjan Mardani Hamooleh, Manouchehr Avatef Fazeli, Mojtaba Habibi |
| Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran |
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Abstract: (208 Views) |
Background: Emotional eating is highly prevalent among obese Iranian women.We analyzed the lived experiences of young Iranian women with obesity in relation to cultural norms regarding the emotional eating.
Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. A purposive sampling method was used to select 17 young women who had experienced emotional eating and who a body mass index of 30 or higher. Diekelmann and colleagues’ method was used to analyze the data collected through semistructured, individual, and face-to-face interviews.
Results: In the analysis of the data, two themes have been identified both highlighting the role that cultural norms play in the development of emotional eating behavior. The first theme, "collective eating culture", had two sub-themes: "pleasant manifestation of the feeling of belonging and love" and "symbol of family cohesion". The second theme was titled "a legal and popular pastime", indicating that eating is considered a common entertainment for women in Iran that is undertaken frequently for the purpose of relieving negative emotions. Cultural norms associated with food consumption as a collective activity as well as eating as a legal and popular pastime have been found to be associated with feeling of belonging to family and to eliminate concerns relating to maintaining family cohesion.
Conclusion: Considering that in Iran; "collective food eating " as a solution to improve mood, is a very common cultural norm in this society. It is associated with the feeling of belonging to relatives and eliminates family cohesion concerns. Aside from this, eating has become a popular and legal form of entertainment, especially for women, in which negative emotions are relieved frequently, thus it is considered an alarming trend for society’s public health.
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| Keywords: Culture, Emotional Eating, Hermeneutics, Lived Experiences, Obesity |
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Full-Text [PDF 237 kb]
(65 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Original Article |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2022/08/17 | Accepted: 2022/12/17 | ePublished ahead of print: 2023/03/19 | Published: 2023/03/19
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