Online Expert Peer Facilitation of the EVERYbody Project

December 15, 2023 updated by: Western Washington University

The EVERYbody Project-Connect: A Randomized-Controlled Study Comparing Active and Passive Inclusive Online Body Image Content for College Students

This randomized-controlled trial examines an online dissonance-based body image program for college students called the EVERYbody Project-Connect. The online (videoconferencing) intervention will be delivered using expert peer leaders in three 90-minute weekly sessions. Expert peer leaders for the EVERYbody Project-Connect are college students with lived and/or academic expertise within both body image and diversity and equity domains who are trained and screened for facilitation readiness. The comparison intervention is a passive, time-matched self-help condition using The Body Is Not An Apology Workbook by Sonya Renee Taylor. Both interventions explore diversity and representation within sociocultural body image pressures and provide tools for body acceptance.

The study is open to all college students in a universal prevention and risk factor reduction framework. Outcomes will be assessed before and after the three weeks of intervention and at three-month follow-up.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

To date, three completed trials of the EVERYbody Project demonstrate that a gender-inclusive, diversity-focused, dissonance based group program can improve eating disorder risk factors and body image among college students. Through active written and verbal exercises and discussion, students directly challenge the cultural messages that appearance should fit within a narrow set of "ideals," critiquing the diversity representation within appearance ideals and incorporating new strategies for body acceptance.

Although peer (aka student to student) facilitation is commonly used for delivering dissonance-based body image interventions, an open training model (where all interested students are eligible to facilitate after training) may not be the most beneficial for leading inclusivity-focused body image groups. Research suggests that the EVERYbody Project is most effective when delivered by either (1) professional facilitators (faculty or staff with body image expertise), or (2) expert peer leaders (college students with lived or academic expertise in both body image and diversity topics who are screened for facilitation readiness during training).

The current trial explores an online adaptation of this program. The EVERYbody Project-Connect was created from the original program after end-user piloting with college students. The resulting program consists of three 90-minute weekly sessions delivered by expert peer leaders over a secure videoconferencing platform. Expert peer facilitators will complete a 16-hour online training and be screened for facilitation readiness before being approved to lead the intervention. Participants will be randomized on a 1:1 basis to receive the EVERYbody Project-Connect or a time-matched, low-dissonance self-help workbook intervention. Participants in this comparison intervention will be provided with an online copy of The Body Is Not An Apology Workbook by author and activist Sonya Renee Taylor and given weekly assignment instructions (90 minutes of activities each week for three weeks). Workbook activities will be completed on their own as a passive self-help intervention.

College students in the Pacific Northwest United States will be invited to participate in this study (universal intervention target, gender inclusive). Outcome assessment includes a comparison of changes in eating disorder risk factors, eating disorder symptoms, and related constructs across conditions over time (from pre- to post-intervention and through 3-month follow-up). Program satisfaction will be assessed at post-intervention, and program application will be evaluated both post-intervention and at follow-up.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

170

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Washington
      • Bellingham, Washington, United States, 98225
        • Western Washington University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Current college students (enrolled with university email address)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: EVERYbody Project-Connect Online Program

Three weekly 90-minute online group sessions facilitated by expert peer leaders. Retains key dissonance activities and the inclusivity focus of the original EVERYbody Project (e.g., expanded gender focus, critically discussing the impact of limited diversity representation in cultural appearance norms). Additional activities were added, including an increased focus on body compassion (self-acceptance) and weight neutrality content to target weight bias.

College students with body image interest and lived or academic diversity and advocacy experience will complete 16 hours of training to become expert peer leaders. Training includes observation, practice, and feedback on using the program manual and managing groups. Students will self-assess and be evaluated by the primary trainer on facilitation readiness. Only peer leaders with sufficient expertise will be invited to facilitate groups.
Behavioral: EVERYbody Project-Connect
3-week dissonance-based, group, online body image program (4.5 hours total)
Active Comparator: Self-Help Workbook
In this time-matched comparison intervention, participants will be provided with an online copy of The Body Is Not An Apology Workbook by author and activist Sonya Renee Taylor (2021). Weekly emails will assign workbook activities to complete on their own (90 minutes per week for three weeks). This low-dissonance comparison intervention covers many of the same topics within the EVERYbody Project-Connect (body acceptance and scrutinizing the diversity within body ideals) and its activities include reflective writing and drawing exercises to challenge media messages around bodies, identify systems of oppression underpinning body messages, challenge body stereotypes, and make peace with your own body. Activities within the workbook are considered low-dissonance since they will be done privately and not shared.
Behavioral: Self-Help Workbook
Time-matched 3-week passive, individual workbook condition (4.5 hours total)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Internalized appearance norms
Time Frame: Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Internalization subscales from the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4). Average of 10 items; higher scores indicate greater internalization of cultural messages surrounding appearance and attractiveness.
Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Body dissatisfaction
Time Frame: Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction with Body Parts Scale (SDBPS). Average of 9 items; higher scores equal greater dissatisfaction with nine body parts that are commonly endorsed as concerning (e.g., stomach, thighs, hips). The scale will be reverse scored from the original.
Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Eating disorder pathology
Time Frame: Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
8-item version of the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q8). Average of 8 items for Global Score; higher scores equal greater frequency and severity of disordered attitudes and behaviors over the past month.
Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Negative affect
Time Frame: Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Fear, guilt, and sadness subscales of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Revised (PANAS). Average of 20 items; higher scores equal greater negative emotion.
Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Weight bias
Time Frame: Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Anti-fat attitudes scale (AFAS). Average of 5 items; higher scores equal greater negative stereotypes about fat people and fear of fat.
Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Positive body image
Time Frame: Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)
Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2). Average of 10 items; higher scores equal greater body positivity.
Change from baseline through post-intervention (3 weeks later) and follow-up (3 months)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Week 1 weight bias change
Time Frame: Assessed at Week 1 of intervention (one week after baseline)
Interim assessment of weight bias after Week 1 of the 3-week interventions using the Anti-fat attitudes scale (AFAS). Change from baseline to Week 1 will be used to predict post-intervention and follow-up outcomes.
Assessed at Week 1 of intervention (one week after baseline)
Week 1 internalization change
Time Frame: Assessed at Week 1 of intervention (one week after baseline)
Interim assessment of internalization of appearance norms after Week 1 of the 3-week interventions using the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4). Change from baseline to Week 1 will be used to predict post-intervention and follow-up outcomes.
Assessed at Week 1 of intervention (one week after baseline)
Program satisfaction
Time Frame: Assessed at post-intervention (three weeks after baseline)
Four Likert scale items about enjoyment (e.g., "I enjoyed the EVERYbody Project") averaged for total satisfaction score (higher score equals greater satisfaction). Three open-ended questions (e.g., "Was any part of the EVERYbody Project particularly helpful/useful? If so, which part and why?") coded for themes.
Assessed at post-intervention (three weeks after baseline)
Program application
Time Frame: Assessed at post-intervention (three weeks after baseline) and follow-up (3 months)
Three Likert questions to gauge the application of new information (e.g., "How often do you think about the things you learned in the EVERYbody Project?"). Items will be averaged for a total application score (higher scores equaling more frequent application). One open-ended question on the 3-month follow-up survey only to report any other ways the EVERYbody Project has impacted the participant recently.
Assessed at post-intervention (three weeks after baseline) and follow-up (3 months)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Western Washington University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 14, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 30, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

August 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 1, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 12, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

April 20, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

December 18, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 15, 2023

Last Verified

December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 4482EX21

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Data and other materials will be made available following reasonable request to study Principal Investigator. All outcome data will be included in data sharing. Socio-demographic characteristics will be collapsed into broader categories to protect participant identity.

Other study materials, including intervention manuals, will be housed on the Principal Investigator's Open Science Framework page, where URLs will be made publicly available.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data will be made available three months after data collection is complete.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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