Attention Training and Its Effects on Body Image Disturbance

NCT01110265 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: USydney11760
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 32
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Research has consistently found attentional biases towards negative weight-related stimuli in individuals with eating disorders. It has been suggested that these biases may act as a vulnerability factor for the development and maintenance of body dissatisfaction and may therefore be an important target for intervention. Previous studies have demonstrated the capacity to modify the patterns of attention allocation to threatening stimuli in a variety of anxiety disorders, with a subsequent and sustained reduction in anxiety symptoms. Thus, the present study aimed at testing the efficacy of attention training in reducing attentional biases and eating disorder symptoms in individuals with elevated levels of body image disturbance and eating disorder symptomatology of clinical severity. Thirty-two participants were randomly allocated to receive eight sessions of a 10-minute computer task aimed at training their attention away from weight-related stimuli or a control placebo training condition. Results showed that participants in the attention training group had a significantly greater reduction in their attentional bias and body dissatisfaction from pre- to post-training relative to the placebo condition. At follow-up, both groups showed a significant decrease in body dissatisfaction from their pre-training levels. The only significant difference between groups in eating disorder symptoms at follow-up was in terms of the attention training group experiencing a greater reduction in weight and shape concerns.

Conditions

Body Dissatisfaction; Eating Disorder Symptoms

Study Arms (2)

placebo training

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Behavioral: placebo training

attention training

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: attention training

Interventions

attention training BEHAVIORAL

attention training

placebo training BEHAVIORAL

placebo training

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 37 Years
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• If they have a score on the Body Shape Questionnaire of 113 or more AND a score in the EDE-Q of 4 or more in any subscale.

You may not qualify if:

• attention bias score of \<-10

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Sydney: lead

Study Sites (1)

The University of Sydney

Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 22, 2010
• First Posted: April 26, 2010
• Study Start: June 1, 2009
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2009
• Study Completion: January 1, 2010
• Last Updated: April 26, 2010

Record last verified: 2010-04

Locations

AU (1)