Eating Disorder Prevention Programs

The University of Texas System (UT)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Eating Disorders

Treatments: Behavioral: Dissonance Eating Disorder Prevention Program; Behavioral: Expressive Writing Control Condition; Behavioral: Healthy Weight Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00042185

DSIR 84-CTP

R01MH061957 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study evaluated 2 eating disorder prevention programs designed to increase body satisfaction among adolescent females with body image concerns.

Full description

Adolescent girls with body dissatisfaction (N=481; SD=1.4) were randomized to a dissonance-based thin-ideal internalization reduction program, healthy weight control program, expressive-writing control condition, or assessment-only control condition. Dissonance participants showed significantly greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, negative affect, eating disorder symptoms, and psychosocial impairment, and lower risk for eating pathology onset through 2-3 year follow-up than assessment-only controls. Dissonance participants showed greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and psychosocial impairment than expressive-writing controls. Healthy weight participants showed greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, negative affect, eating disorder symptoms, and psychosocial impairment, less increases in weight, and lower risk for eating pathology and obesity onset through 2-3 year follow-up than assessment-only controls. Healthy weight participants showed greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization and weight than expressive writing controls. Dissonance participants showed a 60% reduction in risk for eating pathology onset and healthy weight participants showed a 61% reduction in risk for eating pathology onset and a 55% reduction in risk for obesity onset relative to assessment-only controls through 3-year follow-up, implying that the effects are clinically important and enduring.

Sex: Female

Ages: 14 to 19 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria:

• Self-reported body image concerns

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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450 participants in 4 patient groups

Dissonance intervention

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Dissonance Eating Disorder Prevention Program

Healthy Weight Intervention

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Healthy Weight Intervention

Expressive writing control intervention

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expressive Writing Control Condition

Assessment-only control condition

No Intervention group