Prevention of eating disorders: 2018 in review

The role of mothers' involvement in their daughters' self-esteem and dieting behaviors

This study presents an initial effort to develop disordered eating pathology (DEP) prevention program with an emphasis on maternal involvement. Disordered eating pathology representing a range of behaviors and attitudes, from negative body image to full-blown eating disorder. It appears mainly in adolescent females and related to psychological and familial factors, including maternal modeling of thinness. A sample of 118 Israeli girls (11-12) was divided into three groups: participants in the program in parallel with their mothers, participants without their mothers, and control. Participants completed self-report questionnaires. Groups were tested three times: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up. For those girls who participated in parallel with their mothers, higher self-esteem was associated with fewer pathological diet behaviors. Findings deepen understanding of the risk factors involved in the development of DEP. The main study contribution is the important role mothers play in preventing DEP among their daughters.

Goodform: A cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based program to prevent body dissatisfaction and muscle building supplement use among adolescent boys

Although body dissatisfaction is common among adolescent boys, few intervention programs specifically developed for boys have been shown to be effective for reducing body dissatisfaction. Our study aim was to evaluate Goodform, a 4-session, teacher delivered intervention program specifically developed for boys to reduce body dissatisfaction and muscle building supplement use. The Goodform program was based on cognitive dissonance, social learning theory, and a social norms approach, and drew from two existing body image intervention programs that have shown promise among males: The Body Project- More than Muscles, and the Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids Program (ATLAS). A sample of 488 boys in grades 9 and 10 (M_age = 14.81, SD_age = 0.51) at nine secondary schools in Australia were randomly assigned to Goodform (n = 244) or control (n = 244) at the school level. Self-reported body image, supplement use, anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use, and attitudes around using AAS and muscle building supplements were measured at baseline, post-intervention, and eight-week follow-up. Analyses with multi-level, mixed-effect regression models revealed no changes over time attributable to the intervention. Our results have implications for researchers in the body image and eating disorder prevention fields. Lessons learned in this study can inform future school-based efforts for reducing muscle building supplement use.

Dissonance-based eating disorder prevention improves intuitive eating: a randomized controlled trial for Brazilian women with body dissatisfaction

PURPOSE

Investigate the efficacy of a dissonance-based (DB) intervention (i.e., the Body Project), during which some examples of intuitive eating were provided by peer leaders, in improving intuitive eating and targeting risk and protective factors for eating disorders (ED) among Brazilian women with body dissatisfaction.

METHODS

Participants were randomized to a four-session DB intervention (n = 38) or assessment-only control (AOC) (n = 36), and completed validated measures assessing intuitive eating, body appreciation, self-esteem, body-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, negative affect, and disordered eating pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at 4- and 24-week follow-ups.

RESULTS

The DB condition demonstrated significantly greater increases in intuitive eating, body appreciation and self-esteem scores compared to AOC from pre-intervention to post-intervention (between-condition Cohen's d = 0.73-0.98), 4-week (between-condition Cohen's d = 1.25-1.87) and 24-week follow-up (between-condition Cohen's d = 0.82-1.38). Also, the DB condition showed significantly greater decreases in body-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating scores from pre-intervention to post-intervention (between-condition Cohen's d = 0.76-1.04), 4-week (between-condition Cohen's d = 1.27-1.71) and 24-week follow-up (between-condition Cohen's d = 1.04-1.19). Regarding negative affect, DB condition showed significantly greater reduction only at 24-week follow-up (between-condition Cohen's d = 0.60).

CONCLUSION

Results reinforce the efficacy of DB interventions in reducing ED risk factors for young women and support the preliminary efficacy of these programs in improving intuitive eating, body appreciation, and self-esteem.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level I, randomized controlled trial. ReBEC (Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials; available at http://www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/ ) number of registration: RBR-2f57cs. Date of registration: June 1, 2020.

Prevention of eating disorders: 2019 in review

This article reviews 11 prevention-related publications in Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention during 2019. Two models from the 2018 review continue to frame this analysis: (1) the Mental Health Intervention Spectrum from health promotion → types of prevention → case identification and referral → treatment; and (2) parsing phases of prevention into rationale, theory, and methodology → clarification of risk factors → implications for specific preventive interventions → design innovation and feasibility (pilot) research → efficacy and effectiveness research → program dissemination. These articles illustrate how the theoretical complexity and rigorous methodological demands of prevention science are manifest in the eating disorder field. A subset of articles also demonstrates the importance of working with researchers and community stakeholders to improve our understanding of how ethnicity, class, and gender intersect with planning for improvements in all phases of prevention. Other subsets show the need to expand the list of relevant risk factors, and how the traditional schema of masculinity creates both maladaptive biases in case identification and obstacles to an effective and compassionate understanding of EDs. Finally, implications of the absence of efficacy, effectiveness, and dissemination studies are discussed.