Eating Disorder Prevention Programs

Austin Body Acceptance Study

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

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Eating Disorders
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Dissonance Eating Disorder Prevention Program; Behavioral: Healthy Weight Intervention; Behavioral: Expressive Writing Control Condition

Detailed 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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 450
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Austin, Texas, United States, 78712
      • University of Texas at Austin

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 19 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion criteria:

• Self-reported body image concerns

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Assessment-only control condition
Experimental: Dissonance intervention	Behavioral: Dissonance Eating Disorder Prevention Program; In this intervention, participants voluntarily engaged in verbal, written, and behavioral exercises in which they critiqued the thin-ideal ideal. These exercises were conducted in sessions and in homework activities. For example, they wrote a counter-attitudinal essay about the costs associated with pursuit of the thin-ideal and engaged in a counter-attitudinal role-play in which they attempted to dissuade facilitators from pursuing the thin-ideal.
Active Comparator: Healthy Weight Intervention	Behavioral: Healthy Weight Intervention; In this intervention, participants were encouraged to make gradual healthy and lasting changes to their diet and physical activity to balance their energy needs with their energy intake, and thereby achieve a healthier weight and body satisfaction. With support from the facilitator and group members, they initiated an individual lifestyle change plan to reduce intake of fat and sugar and to increase exercise using behavioral modification principles. Food and exercise diaries were used to identify behaviors to target in this lifestyle modification and to monitor change. Motivational enhancement activities were used to promote motivation for behavior change.
Active Comparator: Expressive writing control intervention	Behavioral: Expressive Writing Control Condition; In this condition, which is based on the work of Pennebaker (1997), participants wrote about emotionally significant topics in three individual weekly 45-minute sessions. They were told that research indicates that body dissatisfaction is linked to emotional issues and that expressive writing helps resolve these issues. Sample topics included relationships or goals. They were told that their work would not be read and were asked to write continuously for the duration of the session about an emotionally important topic.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Eating Disorder Diagnostic Interview	1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
The Ideal-Body Stereotype Scale-Revised, Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction with Body Parts Scale, Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale-Revised	1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Texas at Austin
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Stice E, Shaw H. Eating disorder prevention programs: a meta-analytic review. Psychol Bull. 2004 Mar;130(2):206-27. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.2.206.
• Stice E, Fisher M, Martinez E. Eating disorder diagnostic scale: additional evidence of reliability and validity. Psychol Assess. 2004 Mar;16(1):60-71. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.16.1.60.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: February 1, 2001
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2007
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 24, 2002
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 25, 2002
• First Posted (Estimate): July 26, 2002

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): September 27, 2013
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 26, 2013
• Last Verified: September 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Adolescence; Bulimia; Prevention and Control
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Feeding and Eating Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: R01MH061957 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); DSIR 84-CTP (NIH)