The Effectiveness of Therapeutic Storytelling in Reducing the Symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder Among Female Adolescents

• Published in: SAGE open Vol. 14; no. 3
• Main Authors: Al-Frehat, Basem Mohammed, Al- Shraifin, Ahmad Abdullah, Zuraikat, Malek J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2024; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Body dysmorphic disorder; Females; Storytelling; Teenagers; therapeutic storytelling; female adolescents; body dysmorphic
• ISSN: 2158-2440; 2158-2440
• DOI: 10.1177/21582440241281622

This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of therapeutic storytelling in reducing body dysmorphic disorder symptoms among a sample of female adolescents in Irbid, Jordan. The study sample comprises 28 female adolescents who are randomly distributed into two equal groups, namely the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group (N = 14) participated in the therapeutic storytelling program while the control group (N = 14) did not participate in any intervention program. However, to achieve the objectives of the study, a scale of body dysmorphic disorder is used to collect the study data in the pre- and post-tests of the two groups while the follow-up test is applied to the experimental group only. After analyzing the collected data, the results of one-way analysis of variance and t-test showed statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups. The scores average of the post-test on the body dysmorphic disorder scale was in favor of the experimental group, which indicates the value of the therapeutic storytelling program used. The results of post- and follow-up comparisons among the experimental group members indicate the absence of statistically significant differences between the post- and follow-up averages on the body dysmorphic disorder scale, which reflects the reliability of the program’s impact. Plain language summary This study investigates the usefulness of storytelling in reducing body dysmorphic disorder symptoms among female adolescents represented by a sample of 28 females from Irbid, Jordan. Using statistical analysis, the study concludes that the absence of statistically significant differences between the post- and follow-up averages on the body dysmorphic disorder scale reflects the reliability of the program’s impact.