Healthy Sport Project; Preventing Eating Disorders in Sport (HSP)

Healthy Sport Project: "Recovery, Body Acceptance and Health in Young Athletes"

The "Healthy Sport Project" is an adapted program from the Body Project by prof Eric Stice, aiming to reduce body dissatisfaction and symptoms of disordered eating and eating disorders in adolescent elite athletes. This trial aim to evaluate the effect of the program using a one-arm pilot study design in 14 years age old athletes at a Norwegian Elite Sport Junior High School.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Athletic Injuries; Eating Disorders; Adolescent - Emotional Problem; Body Dissatisfaction; Disordered Eating
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Healthy Sport Project

Detailed Description

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious illnesses with highest incidence in adolescents. Moreover, athletes have a higher frequency of symptoms of disordered eating (DE) and EDs than non-athletes. There are many reasons to this health issue, but body appearance pressure, competing in body mass sensitive sports, and comments on body appearance are important explanations. Few programs have proved effective in preventing DE and EDs in the general population, or in athletes specifically, and none is permanent operative in sports in Norway. Body Project by prof Eric Stice have proved effective in preventing body dissatisfaction, figure idealization and new onset of EDs in female adolescents above 15 years of age, and with body dissatisfaction, from the general population. A few attempts to adapt this program to female athletes, argue for a comparative positive effect. Three important elements to further address, are: 1) programs need also to be tested in males; 2) programs need to be tested in adolescents of younger age before the typical onset of an ED; and 3) programs need to be possible to administer by non-professionals.

In this study the research group aim to adapt and test the effect of the Body Project, by the pilot study the "Healthy Sport Project", in elite junior athletes attending specialized junior sport high schools (age 14). The final goal for this project group is to create an effective preventive program for body dissatisfaction and DE/EDs in young athletes of both sexes and in mixed sports, and which may be administered by the schoolteachers.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 73
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Fredrikstad, Norway, 1671
    • Therese Fostervold Mathisen

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 14 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• pupil at the recruited Sport Jr High School

Exclusion Criteria:

• no informed consent from parents
• not willing to participate
• a diagnosis of an eating disorder and being under (or waiting for) treatment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; All pupils attending a Elite Sport Jr High School receive intervention	Behavioral: Healthy Sport Project; 2 interactive information lectures (given per class of 30 pupils), and 4 interactive workshops (given to sex-homogenous groups of 10 pupils). One per week, a total of 6 weeks with intervention.; Other Names: Sports Body Project

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in symptoms of Eating Disorder, Eating Disorder Questionnaire Short-form	9 Questions on eating restriction, on worries for body weight and appearance. Rated by number of days the different content has been relevant. By Fairburn and Beglin, 2008	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Change in Body Acceptance, Body Acceptance Scale, version 2	10 Questions on body acceptance, rated by a 5 point Likert Scale (never - always). By Halliwell et al 2017.	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Change in symptoms of internalization of body figure ideals, SATAQ-4	10 Questions from subscales of SATAQ-4 (thinness idealisation and muscularity idealization), rated by 5 point Likert Scale. By Schaefer et al 2015	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Experiences from participating in the project	Focus group interview following a semistructured manual; asking for experiences with participation in the "Healthy Sport Project"	After intervention (post, +6 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in experiences of Body Appearance Pressure (BAP), questions by research group	Question on experience of BAP (if it is experienced yes/no)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Change in experiences of Body Appearance Pressure (BAP), questions by research group	Question on arenas for experience of BAP (in which contexts; choose between listed arenas)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Change in dietary habits, questions by research group	Questions on meal frequency (numbers); frequency of intake of fruit and vegetables (number of portions); frequency of intake of dairy products (number of portions); frequency of intake of fish (number of portions)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Change in dietary habits, questions by research group	Use of supplements (yes/no)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Change in dietary habits, questions by research group	Use of supplements ( what type of supplements, chose from listed alternatives)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Change in nutrition knowledge, questions by research group	3 questions asking for examples of foods providing carbohydrates; proteins; fats, respectively.	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Question on injuries, questions by research group	1 Questions asking for any incident of injury (yes/no)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Question on injuries, questions by research group	Where the injury was located (chose from list of anatomical locations)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Demographics, questions by research group	Age (years)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Demographics, questions by research group	Sex (male/female)	Before intervention
Demographics, questions by research group	Sport (any given)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Demographics, questions by research group	Body weight (kg)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Demographics, questions by research group	Height (m)	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention
Demographics, questions by research group	Number of hours in physical activity per week (hours).	Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ostfold University College
• Collaborators: Oslo University Hospital; Norwegian School of Sport Sciences
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Therese F Mathisen, PhD, Østfold University College

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 10, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 8, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 12, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): October 17, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 2, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 1, 2024
• Last Verified: April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: adolescent; mental health; prevention; sport; eating disorders; athlete; body dissatisfaction; disordered eating; figure idealisation; elite sport
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Wounds and Injuries; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Athletic Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: 277766

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Not to be shared

Drug and device information, study documents

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