In the Mirror: Functional Appreciated Bodies (IM FAB) (IMFAB)

Union College, New York

Status: Completed

Conditions: Body Image Disturbance; Eating Disorder Symptom

Treatments: Behavioral: Mirror exposure and text prompt responses

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04118972

UnionC

Details and patient eligibility

About

The current project aims to examine the concept of promoting attention toward body functionality and gratitude using a weekly functionality-based mirror exposure and body functionality gratitude "journaling" text prompts three days a week for three weeks to examine whether this helps foster positive body image and decrease eating disorder symptoms in a sample of undergraduate females, a population at particularly high risk of body image dissatisfaction and consequent eating disorder development.

Full description

Specific Aim 1. First, the project aims to test a gratitude-based body functionality primary prevention program, In the Mirror: Functional Appreciated Bodies (IM FAB), that incorporates mirror exposure with a greater intervention "dose" than that piloted by Brooks and Walker. The increased dose should allow for greater ability for participants to consolidate exposure-based learning. Specifically, more time instructed to appreciate the body's functionality allows for more occasions to redirect critical appearance-oriented cognitions to appreciative, function-based cognitions.

Specific Aim 2. Second, the project aims to pilot test a relatively minimalistic intervention that would be easily translated to app-based delivery format, to help overcome the most-cited barriers to prevention program participation noted by undergraduate students in universal prevention research. Specifically, undergraduate participants who were assigned to a prevention program but did not enroll questioned a need for counseling/therapy, reported preferring to deal with issues on their own, and cited a lack of time as reasons they did not enroll.

Specific Aim 3. Third, the project aims to test this specific functionality mirror exposure approach largely on its own, rather than as part of a multicomponent treatment program, so that its unique contribution in preventing body image dissatisfaction, and ultimately eating disorders, can be assessed. A main goal in prevention and treatment development remains to continuously test components of body-image interventions separately for efficacy.

Enrollment: 275 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Undergraduate female aged 18-23 years.

Exclusion criteria

• Self-definition as having an active eating disorder
• Participation in the Body Project

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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275 participants in 3 patient groups

Functionality Mirror Exposure & Journal

Experimental group

Description:

A text-based functionality gratitude "journaling" prompt three times weekly paired with three weeks of weekly functionality-based guided mirror exposure sessions in the lab (the IM FAB program)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mirror exposure and text prompt responses

Pure Mirror Exposure & Gratitude Journal

Active Comparator group

Description:

Thrice weekly generic (non body-focused) gratitude text prompts and pure mirror exposure in the lab. Participants are not given instructions on how to examine body parts, only instructed to examine the same specific body parts as the Functionality group to control specifically for impacts of the body functionality focus.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mirror exposure and text prompt responses

Assessment only control

No Intervention group

Description:

Assessments at Week 1, Week 3, and 1- and 4-month follow-ups, identical to those received by participants in the active condition