Body Acceptance After Baby Intervention (BABI)

The purpose of this study is to learn if a novel online single-session intervention can help improve body dissatisfaction in new moms. The active intervention condition, Body Acceptance After Baby (BABI), uses acceptance-based skills to help participants cope with body dissatisfaction. BABI will be evaluated against another active intervention condition (a brief infographic that provides psychoeducation about body image during postpartum) and a waitlist control condition.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Body Dissatisfaction
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Body Acceptance after Baby (BABI); Behavioral: Postpartum Body Image Infographic

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 375
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Rachel Rodgers, PhD; Phone Number: 617 373 2105; Email: r.rodgers@northeastern.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
      • Recruiting
      • Northeastern University
      • Contact: Rachel Rodgers, PhD; Phone Number: 617-470-9974; Email: r.rodgers@northeastern.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Individuals must:

• Be currently residing in the U.S.
• Be able to read and write in English
• Be aged 18 or above
• Identify as a woman
• Have given birth to a live infant in the past year
• Endorse dissatisfaction with their appearance (i.e., in answering the question "Indicate how satisfied you are with your overall appearance" they must answer neutral, mostly dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Body Acceptance After Baby Intervention (BABI); The active condition, BABI, includes (1) psychoeducation about body image during postpartum; (2) psychoeducation about acceptance; (3) an activity to practice "unhooking" (cognitive defusion skill); (4) a values clarification exercise; (5) a peer advice activity (participants give advice in response to vignettes of new moms who are struggling with body image); and (6) the creation of a personalized action plan. BABI is designed to take approximately 30 minutes.	Behavioral: Body Acceptance after Baby (BABI); BABI is an online, self-directed single-session intervention designed to improve body dissatisfaction in postpartum moms (up to one year after delivery) aged 18 or older.
Experimental: Postpartum Body Image Infographic; Participants will read a brief infographic that includes (1) psychoeducation about body image and the harms of "bounce-back" culture during postpartum and (2) ways to improve body image. This infographic is designed to be read in approximately 2 minutes.	Behavioral: Postpartum Body Image Infographic; The postpartum body image infographic is an online pamphlet that provides psychoeducation about body image during postpartum.
No Intervention: Waitlist Control; This group will receive no intervention, but will be given access to both active conditions at the end of follow-ups.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Postpartum body image	Postpartum body image will be measured using the Body Image in Pregnancy Scale adapted for postpartum. Only the following subscales will be measured: (1) Preoccuptation with Physical Appearance; (2) Prioritization of Appearance over Function; (3) Appearance-Related Behavioral Avoidance. Subscales range from 1-5 with higher scores indicating greater body image disturbance.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Body appreciation	Body Appreciation will be measured using The Body Appreciation Scale-2 Short Form. Scores range from 3-15 with higher scores indicating greater body appreciation.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months
Psychological flexibility	Psychological flexibility will be measured with the Comprehensive assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy processes (CompACT). Scores range from 0-138 with higher scores indicating greater psychological flexibility. Subscales can also be calculated to measure (1) Openness to Experience, (2) Behavioral Awareness, and (3) Valued Action.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months
Postpartum depression	Postpartum depression will be measured with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Scores range from 0-30 with higher scores indicating greater depressive symptoms.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months
Eating disorder symptoms	Eating disorder symptoms will be measured with the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire Short (EDE-QS). Scores range from 0-36 with higher scores indicating greater severity of eating disorder symptoms.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months
Intuitive eating	Intuitive eating will be measured with the Intuitive Eating Scale-3 (IES-3) . Each item ranges from 1-5 and can be averaged to obtain a global score with higher scores indicating greater intuitive eating. Subscale scores (Unconditional Permission to Eat; Eating for Physical Reasons; Reliance on Hunger and Satiety Cues; Body-Food Choice Congruence) can also be calculated.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months
Breastfeeding self-efficacy	Breastfeeding self-efficacy will be measured with the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES-SF). Scores range from 14-70 with higher scores indicating greater self-efficacy.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months
Bottle-feeding self-efficacy	Bottle-feeding self-efficacy will be measured with the Bottle Feeding Self-Efficacy Scale. Scores range from 20-100 with higher scores indicating greater self-efficacy.	Baseline, 1 month, 3 months
State mood and body image	Visual analog scales will be used to measure state anxiety, negative affect, positive affect, appearance satisfaction, weight satisfaction, muscle tone satisfaction, confidence, body acceptance, body positivity, anger, body functionality appreciation, body appreciation, broad concept of beauty (body sizes and body shapes) and body positive protective filter. Each item ranges from 0-100 with greater scores indicating greater levels of the respective variable.	Baseline
Hopelessness	Hopelessness will be measured with the Beck Hopelessness Scale - 4-item version (BHS). Each item ranges from 0-3. Items are averaged to obtain a total score with higher scores indicating greater hopelessness.	Baseline

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acceptability	To measure intervention acceptability we will use the The Program Feedback Scale (PFS). The PFS asks participants to rate agreement with seven statements about the acceptability of the SSI (e.g. "I enjoyed the program") on a five-point scale. Higher scores reflect greater acceptability for each item.	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Northeastern University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 20, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 14, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 12, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 20, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 20, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 12, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Postpartum; Acceptance and commitment therapy; Body dissatisfaction; Single-session intervention
• Other Study ID Numbers: 24-11-25

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