The purpose of this study is to assess a cognitive dissonance-based eating disorder prevention intervention program on its ability to reduce attentional biases in body-dissatisfied women.
Eating disorders are some of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders affecting women in Westernized cultures, and are associated with a range of medical complications; in severe cases, eating disorders can lead to death. Unfortunately, a large proportion of individuals with eating disorders do not receive treatment, and of those who do receive treatment, only approximately 40-50% of clients are symptom-free at the end of treatment. In addition to limited efficacy, existing treatments can be time-consuming and costly. From both public health and humanitarian perspectives it is best to prevent eating disorders prior to their emergence. This study will use a randomized, controlled design to investigate the effects of a cognitive dissonance-based intervention on attentional biases for weight words in body-dissatisfied women. Cognitive dissonance is thought to occur when there is a discrepancy between one's beliefs or attitudes, and behaviour. The experience of dissonance is thought to create discomfort, and resultantly individuals change their beliefs to be in line with their behaviours. Thus, the core tenet of cognitive dissonance-based interventions is the concept of engaging participants in counter-attitudinal behaviours (e.g., speaking out against the thin ideal) to enact change through cognitive dissonance. This cognitive dissonance-based intervention (The Body Project) targets body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, and eating disorder symptoms. Almost all research on the Body Project has assessed its efficacy via self-report, however, this study will use an eye-tracker to measure the gaze. Attentional biases are less susceptible to self-reporting biases than traditional pencil-and-paper questionnaires and so are a more reliable measure of cognitive processing The participants in this study will be placed into one of three different conditions: cognitive dissonance (CD), media psychoeducation (MP), or waitlist control (WL), and a similar number of women will be allocated to the body-satisfied (BS) condition. Both the CD and MP intervention groups will consist of two approximately 2-hour sessions scheduled one week apart, as well as a 30-minute online follow-up questionnaire 1 month after the second intervention/assessment session. Individuals allocated to WL will begin to receive the intervention approximately 5 weeks after the CD and MP groups (after their 1 month follow-up survey). The BS group will consist of two approximately 35- to 40-minute assessment-only sessions scheduled one week apart. All groups of participants will full out several self-report questionnaire as well as participate in a brief eye-tracking assessment both before and after their allocated intervention group (the BS condition and waitlist control will only complete the questionnaires and eye tracking assessment). Participants will sign up for a group time slot, and the group time slots will be randomly assigned to be given either the CD, and MP, or the WL condition. Participants will be recruited through the University of Calgary Department of Psychology Research Participation System (RPS) as well as campus community participants recruited through campus advertisements. Potential participants will be pre-screened for the presence of body dissatisfaction (or body satisfaction for the BS assessment only group).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
228
The Body Project is a dissonance-based body-acceptance program designed to help high school girls and college-age women resist cultural pressures to conform to the appearance ideal standard of female beauty and reduce their pursuit of unrealistic bodies. The Body Project is supported by more research than any other body image program and has been found to reduce onset of eating disorders.
Mediapsychoeducation is used to educate individuals on psychological issues through the use of various medias, in this study mediapsychoeducation is being used to educate individuals on eating disorders and the thin ideal.
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Change from baseline attentional bias after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
using an EyeLink 1000 eye-tracking system gaze will be tracked for biases to view weight words and images
Time frame: change in attentional bias from baseline recorded at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline body dissatisfaction after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
Level of body dissatisfaction will be measured using the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ; Cooper, Taylor, Cooper, \& Fairburn, 1987).
Time frame: change in BSQ score from baseline measured at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline body dissatisfaction at the one-month follow up
Level of body dissatisfaction will be measured using the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ; Cooper, Taylor, Cooper, \& Fairburn, 1987).
Time frame: change in BSQ score from baseline measured in online follow-up survey administered one month after week 2 of the assigned intervention/control condition
Change from baseline body appreciation after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
body appreciation will be assessed using the the Body Appreciation Scale (Tylka \& Wood-Barcalow, 2015).
Time frame: change in Body Appreciation Scale score measured at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline body appreciation at the one-month follow up
body appreciation will be assessed using the the Body Appreciation Scale (Tylka \& Wood-Barcalow, 2015).
Time frame: change in Body Appreciation Scale score measured in online follow-up survey administered one month after week 2 of the assigned intervention/control condition
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Change from baseline thin-ideal internalization after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
thin-ideal internalization will be assessed using the internalization subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ; Schaefer et al., 2015)
Time frame: change in SATAQ score measured at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline thin-ideal internalization at the one-month follow up
thin-ideal internalization will be assessed using the internalization subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ; Schaefer et al., 2015)
Time frame: Change in SATAQ score measured in online follow-up survey administered one month after week 2 of the assigned intervention/control condition
Change from baseline eating pathology after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
eating pathology will be assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0; Fairburn \& Beglin, 1994)
Time frame: change in EDE-Q score measured at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline eating pathology at the one-month follow up
eating pathology will be assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0; Fairburn \& Beglin, 1994)
Time frame: change in EDE-Q score measured in online follow-up survey administered one month after week 2 of the assigned intervention/control condition
Change from baseline explicit weight stigma after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
Explicit weight stigma will be assessed using the Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire (Crandall, 1994)
Time frame: change in Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire score measured at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline explicit weight stigma at the one-month follow up
Explicit weight stigma will be assessed using the Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire (Crandall, 1994)
Time frame: Change in Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire score measured in online follow-up survey administered one month after week 2 of the assigned intervention/control condition
Change from baseline weight self-stigma after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
Weight self-stigma will be assessed using the Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire (Lillis et al., 2010)
Time frame: change in Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire score measured at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline weight self-stigma at the one-month follow up
Weight self-stigma will be assessed using the Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire (Lillis et al., 2010)
Time frame: change in Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire score measured in online follow-up survey administered one month after week 2 of the assigned intervention/control condition
Change from baseline state body dissatisfaction after completing the intervention/control condition, week 2
State body dissatisfaction will be assessed using a Visual Analogue Scale that asks participants to rate their current level of body satisfaction/dissatisfaction on a scale from 0 (extremely satisfied with your body) to 100 (extremely dissatisfied with your body)
Time frame: change in Body Dissatisfaction Visual Analogue Scale score measured at the end of the assigned intervention/control condition (week 2)
Change from baseline state body dissatisfaction at the one-month follow up
State body dissatisfaction will be assessed using a Visual Analogue Scale that asks participants to rate their current level of body satisfaction/dissatisfaction on a scale from 0 (extremely satisfied with your body) to 100 (extremely dissatisfied with your body)
Time frame: change in Body Dissatisfaction Visual Analogue Scale score measured in online follow-up survey administered one month after week 2 of the assigned intervention/control condition