A controlled trial of a dissonance-based eating disorders prevention program with Brazilian girls

Bibliographic Data

ID4407315
AuthorsAna Carolina Soares Amaral (0000-0003-2485-9111, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Minas Gerais, corresponding author), Eric Stice (0000-0002-9073-4942), Stice E (0000-0002-9632-1540, Eugene Research Institute), Maria Elisa Caputo Ferreira (0000-0002-3294-7560, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora)
Year2019
Volume32
Issue1
Pages13
Publication date2019-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsicologia Reflexão e Crítica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0102-7972 • E-ISSN: 1678-7153
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1186/s41155-019-0126-3
PMID32026167
OpenAlexW2949408523
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited50

BACKGROUND: Given that most young women with eating disorders do not receive treatment, implementing effective prevention programs is a public health priority. The Body Project is a group-based eating disorder prevention program with evidence of both efficacy and effectiveness. This trial evaluated the efficacy of this prevention program with Brazilian girls, as no published study has tested whether this intervention is culturally sensitive and efficacious with Latin-American adolescents. METHODS: Female students were allocated to a dissonance-based intervention (n = 40) or assessment-only (n = 22) condition. The intervention was a dissonance-based program, consisted of four group sessions aimed to reduce thin-ideal internalization. The sessions included verbal, written, and behavioral exercises. The intervention group was evaluated at pretest and posttest; assessment-only controls completed measures at parallel times. RESULTS: Compared to assessment-only controls, intervention participants showed a significantly greater reduction in body dissatisfaction, sociocultural influence of the media, depressive symptoms, negative affect, as well as significantly greater increases in body appreciation. There were no significant effects for disordered eating attitudes and eating disorder symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that this dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program was culturally sensitive, or at least culturally adaptive, and efficacious with Brazilian female adolescents. Indeed, the average effect size was slightly larger than has been observed in the large efficacy trial of this prevention program and in recent meta-analytic reviews. TRIAL REGISTRATION: RBR-7prdf2 . Registered 13 August 2018 (retrospectively registered)

Cognitive dissonance · Eating disorders · Intervention (counseling) · Psychiatry · Public health · Randomized controlled trial · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Clinical Psychology · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology

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