Women’s use and acceptability of guided imagery in a multi-behavior intervention focused on psychological stress, food cravings, and exercise

Peter Giacobbi; Kylie Phillips; Samantha Shawley; Richard Nolan; Kelsey Johnson; Ranjita Misra

doi:10.1515/jirspa-2020-0016

Article

Women’s use and acceptability of guided imagery in a multi-behavior intervention focused on psychological stress, food cravings, and exercise

Peter Giacobbi , Kylie Phillips , Samantha Shawley , Richard Nolan , Kelsey Johnson and Ranjita Misra

Published/Copyright: November 11, 2020

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From the journal Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity Volume 15 Issue 1

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this short report was to describe the experiences of 29 overweight or obese women (M_age = 44) who completed a multi-behavior guided imagery intervention that simultaneously targeted psychological stress, food cravings, and physical activity behavior.

Methods

Participants created tailored guided imagery scripts with health coaches for daily use as part of the 5 week randomized controlled wait-list trial. Post-intervention semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim and content analyzed for common conceptual themes.

Results

The results showed that 83% of the participants stated they would continue using guided imagery, <7% would not, while the remaining 10% were unsure about future usage. The perceived usefulness varied across the three behaviors.

Conclusions

Guided imagery has the potential to simultaneously address multiple health behaviors. Our results shed light on how tailored guided imagery scripts can be used to help overweight and obese women manage or lose body weight.

Keywords: guided imagery; secondary analysis; use and acceptability; women

Corresponding author: Peter Giacobbi, Jr, Department of Sport Sciences, Joint Appointment in Department of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, West Virginia University, PO Box 6116, Health & Education Building, Morgantown, WV 26506-6116, USA, Phone: +1 304 293 5970, E-mail: prgiacobbi@mail.wvu.edu

Research funding: None declared.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

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Received: 2020-09-16

Accepted: 2020-10-16

Published Online: 2020-11-11

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jirspa-2020-0016

Keywords for this article

guided imagery; secondary analysis; use and acceptability; women