The Effects of Weight Science and Nutrition Education on Weight Control Beliefs and Disordered Eating.

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Eating, Healthy; Body Image

Treatments: Other: Weight Science Educational Video; Other: Healthy Sleep Educational Video; Other: Healthy Eating Educational Video

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05684263

STJOES2022WCB

Details and patient eligibility

About

People have different beliefs about controlling their weight. Individuals who believe they should control their weight are more likely to have poor body image, low self-esteem and disordered eating. Individuals who believe they should aim for a healthy lifestyle and accept their natural weight have better body image, better self-esteem and less disordered eating. This study investigates the impact of three types of education on participants' beliefs about controlling weight: 1) education about the body's natural regulation of weight; or 2) education about healthy nutrition; or 3) education about both the body's regulation of weight and healthy nutrition. The study will also investigate whether changing participants' beliefs about controlling weight impacts participants' body satisfaction, feelings about themselves and intention to diet. It is predicted that teaching both about the body's regulation of weight and healthy eating will decrease participants' belief in personal control over weight, and increase participants' belief in striving for a healthy lifestyle and accepting their natural weight. In turn, these changes in weight control beliefs are expect to predict improved body satisfaction, feelings about themselves and a lower intention to diet.

Full description

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) weight science + control (sleep education); 2) control (sleep education) + healthy nutrition education; or 3) weight science + healthy nutrition education. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the three conditions by an algorithm in REDCap. The same procedure will be used for each condition, with the exception of what education is provided.

After the online consent form is completed, participants will be automatically redirected to the study questionnaires in REDCap. Participants will complete a package of questionnaires pre- and post- intervention measuring demographic information, physical activity, knowledge of weight science, weight control beliefs, self-esteem, restrained eating, body appreciation, self-compassion for weight and shape and fear of self-compassion for weight and shape. Participants will complete the package of questionnaires prior to watching two educational videos embedded into the REDCap project, and then complete the same package of questionnaires again.

After watching the educational videos and completing the study questionnaires, participants will receive a copy of the debriefing form, which provides further information about the study purpose, independent and dependent variables, local mental health resources, and contact information for the LPI. The debriefing form will be emailed to participants via McMaster Outlook using the email encryption function. If participants do not complete the study questionnaires, the debriefing form will be sent to participants after their study time slot has closed.

The data will be collected and stored through the secure online data collection platform REDCap, which is managed by St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. REDCap is a secure, encrypted data collection platform that requires two-factor authentication for access to study data. REDCap is located within the secure internal SJHH network, and is protected by firewall software (Checkpoint software).

Enrollment: 150 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 17+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 17 years of age or older
• Female
• Normal hearing with or without listening device

Exclusion criteria

• Currently diagnosed with an eating disorder
• Has received treatment for an eating disorder at any point in time

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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150 participants in 3 patient groups

Weight Science + Healthy Eating Education

Experimental group

Description:

In this condition participants will watch two educational videos on the topics of weight science, and healthy eating. The videos were created by a registered psychologist and are each between 20 and 30 minutes in length.

Treatment:

Other: Weight Science Educational Video

Other: Healthy Eating Educational Video

Weight Science + Healthy Sleep Education

Other group

Description:

In this condition participants will watch two educational videos on the topics of weight science, and healthy sleep. The videos were created by a registered psychologist and are each between 20 and 30 minutes in length. We are interested in the effect of weight science education alone, the healthy sleep video was added as an active control so that each condition was watching the same amount of videos.

Treatment:

Other: Weight Science Educational Video

Other: Healthy Sleep Educational Video

Healthy Eating + Healthy Sleep Education

Other group

Description:

In this condition participants will watch two educational videos on the topics of healthy eating, and healthy sleep. The videos were created by a registered psychologist and are each between 20 and 30 minutes in length. We are interested in the effect of healthy eating education alone, the healthy sleep video was added as an active control so that each condition was watching the same amount of videos.

Treatment:

Other: Healthy Sleep Educational Video

Other: Healthy Eating Educational Video