Acceptability and Feasibility of a Single-Session Online Parent-Focused Intervention Targeting Child Body Image Development

University at Albany

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Weight Bias; Eating Disorders; Body Image Disturbance

Treatments: Behavioral: Child Body Image Development Workshop

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07179068

24-0041UA (Other Grant/Funding Number)

PrBI1243

Details and patient eligibility

About

Body image concerns have been linked to diverse mental health issues, including depression and disordered eating. Disordered eating can develop into clinically significant eating disorders, which are associated with serious negative impacts on psychological and physical well-being, and can adversely impact developmental trajectories in children and adolescents. Given limitations in the eating disorder intervention literature, it is important to invest in effective eating disorder prevention programs. Evidence suggests that children can recognize the existence of societal appearance ideals as early as age 3; thus, this study examines the acceptability and feasibility of a single-session, online, parent-focused intervention targeting predictors of body image disturbance in young children.

Full description

Body image concerns have been linked longitudinally to diverse mental health issues, including disordered eating. Disordered eating can develop into clinically significant eating disorders, which are associated with serious psychological and physical sequelae and can adversely impact developmental trajectories in children and adolescents. The mortality rate associated with eating disorders is second only to that of opiate addiction. Existing treatments for eating disorders remain only moderately effective, with ~40% remission rates for anorexia and bulimia nervosa. It is therefore important to examine early risk factors for the development of body image concerns to inform preventive approaches suitable for intervening early on in the development of disordered eating.

Evidence suggests that children can recognize the existence of societal appearance ideals as early as age 3; in fact, exposure to appearance-focused media at age 3 is prospectively predictive of positive associations with thinness at age 4 and dietary restraint behaviors at age 5. These findings suggest an important role of societal appearance ideals in fostering body discontent and point to the media as a crucial source of communication of these ideals to children. Parents have a great deal, if not all, control over the information their young children are exposed to within the home and from the outside world. The proposed study is based on the assumption that intervening with parents of young children, with a focus on education about the impact of media exposure, can reduce body image disturbance and prevent the future development of disordered eating. Thus, this study explores the acceptability and feasibility of a single-session, online, parent-focused intervention targeting predictors of body image disturbance in young children.

Enrollment: 100 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria: Must be at least 18 years old and reside in the US. They must also be the parent of a young child between the ages of 2-6.

Exclusion Criteria: None beyond not meeting inclusion criteria.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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100 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

In phase 2, 50 participants will be randomized to complete the entire intervention; the intervention/workshop will consist of four modules: Body Image Development/Body Talk, Food Talk, Picky Eating and Mealtime Conversations, and Media Usage and Social Comparison. Each module will be approximately 10 minutes. After parents complete all four modules, they will complete measures of acceptability and feasibility, including reporting which module they found most useful. They will also complete knowledge checks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Child Body Image Development Workshop

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

In Phase 2, 50 parents will be randomized into the control group. This group will receive no intervention. They will only complete the knowledge checks. These knowledge checks will be the same checks completed by the intervention group.