A New Measure of Body Image in Eating Disorders

Measurement of Body Image in Eating Disorders

This study aims to compare a new electronic instrument called (here referred to as the 'Body App') with traditional paper and pencil rating scales for assessing how individuals with eating disorders evaluate their body image.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Eating Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Body App

Detailed Description

Self-perceived weight or shape disturbance is a core symptom of eating disorders, with heavy therapeutic and prognostic relevance. Developing a reliable and unbiased method to assess body image disturbance is imperative, as feature characteristics of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, include the overestimation of body size and shape. Among the most essential features of the disorder, this inability to correctly judge one's own body image has been frequently linked to the maintenance of eating disorders. Moreover, persistent perceptual disturbance for one's visual appearance is one of the strong predictors of relapse in AN and bulimia nervosa.

Body image disturbance can be conceptualized as having two main components: perceptual, and attitudinal/affective. These might be considered two distinct constructs, best measured independently. However, clinicians currently rely upon self-report questionnaires that evaluate aggregates of symptoms, perceptual experiences, behaviors, and thoughts linked to the disorder. Some scales selectively evaluate body image characteristics such as body dissatisfaction and body distortion. However, it is unclear to what degree each of these measures quantifies the specific components of perceptual experiences vs. attitudinal/affective aspects. This study aims to evaluate whether a new electronic instrument, here referred to as the 'Body App', which separates estimations of body shape and size from the attitudinal/affective component might result in closer approximations of the perceptual component of weight or shape disturbance, and facilitate the assessment of body image disturbance in eating disorders.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 135
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oklahoma
    • Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, 74133
      • Laureate Institute for Brain Research

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 64 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Eating disorders group:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Primary clinical diagnosis of eating disorder
• Receiving inpatient treatment for eating disorder
• Body mass index greater than or equal to 14
• Independently ambulatory
• Possession of a smartphone with data plan
• English proficiency

Exclusion Criteria:

• Active suicidal ideation
• Comorbid schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorder.

Healthy comparison group:

Inclusion Criteria:

• No current psychiatric diagnosis
• Body mass index greater than or equal to 14
• Independently ambulatory
• Possession of a smartphone with data plan
• English proficiency

Exclusion Criteria:

• Body mass index > 41
• Active suicidal ideation

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Eating disorder; Measurement of body image via Body App and relationship to body measurement	Other: Body App; Participants will indicate areas of concern on a virtual manikin using an electronic online interface. Body measurements will also be collected.
Other: Healthy comparison; Measurement of body image via Body App and relationship to body measurement	Other: Body App; Participants will indicate areas of concern on a virtual manikin using an electronic online interface. Body measurements will also be collected.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Body image distortion score on the Body App Tool	Discrepancy between subjective body estimation on avatar and actual measurement of corresponding body part	Through study completion, an average of 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Body image dissatisfaction score on the Photographic Figure Rating Scale	Average of the absolute change in body image dissatisfaction across each measurement (score range: 0 to 10; larger changes indicate greater severity of body image dissatisfaction)	Through study completion, an average of 1 year
Body image disturbance on the Body Appreciation Scale-2	Average of the absolute change in body image disturbance across each measurement relative to baseline (range 10 to 50, higher scores indicating reduced severity of body image disturbance)	Through study completion, an average of 1 year
Eating disorder severity on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire	Average of the absolute change in overall eating disorder severity across each measurement relative to baseline (range 0 to 6, larger scores indicate greater severity of eating disorder)	Through study completion, an average of 1 year
Body image disturbance on the Body Image States Scale	Average of the absolute change in body image disturbance across each measurement relative to baseline (range 0 to 48, higher scores indicate greater severity of body image disturbance)	Through study completion, an average of 1 year
Body dysmorphic concerns on the Dysmorphic Concerns Questionnaire	Average of the absolute change in dysmorphic concerns across each measurement relative to baseline (range 0 to 21, higher scores indicate greater severity of dysmorphic concerns)	Through study completion, an average of 1 year
Exercise addiction on the Exercise Addiction Inventory	Average of the absolute change in exercise addiction across each measurement relative to baseline (range 6 to 30, higher scores indicate greater severity of exercise addiction)	Through study completion, an average of 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Inc.
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sahib Khalsa, MD, PhD, Laureate Institute for Brain Research

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 16, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 19, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 27, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): November 29, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 5, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 4, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Body image
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Feeding and Eating Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2018-001-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No