Feasibility and Acceptability of a Single Session of Imagery Rescripting in a Community Sample of Adults

NCT06610318 | Completed Early Phase 1

• 1 other identifier: STUDY00000529
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 27
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Negative experiences related to eating and appearance (NEREAs), such as critical commentary from parents about food, are common. They are also associated with depression and disordered eating, predictors of early mortality. Imagery rescripting (IR) is a therapeutic process during which individuals are guided through recalling distressing memories, like NEREAs, and generating ideas for bringing support into these memories. Single sessions of IR demonstrate promise in shifting the primary negative consequences of NEREAs in clinical samples of women. The current study examined the feasibility and acceptability of a remote-delivered, single session of IR in a community sample of men and women with NEREAs.

Conditions

Feasibility Studies; Acceptability; Depressive Symptoms; Disordered Eating Behaviors

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• enrollment

  the total number of participants enrolled in the study and a demographic description of these participants, including their sex, gender, race, ethnicity, age and body mass index

  once, at baseline, over the duration of recruitment to obtain the sample size of interest

• fidelity

  the % of intervention curriculum the interventionists cover during their intervention session as rated by research staff using a curriculum checklist

  during the intervention session only

• data collection completeness

  % of missing data collected at all study visits

  baseline, intervention, 1-month, and 3-month

• intervention acceptability

  captured via self-report survey items created by the researchers; participants were asked questions such as the extent to which they liked engaging in the intervention; response options are on a Likert-type scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree; average scores at the item level will be generated by condition

  these data will be collected during the 1-month follow-up visit

• safety

  frequency of adverse events

  these data will be collected during and between all study visits, from baseline though the 3-month follow-up visit

• retention

  the % of participants retained at each visit relative to baseline (i.e., percentage of total enrolled who attended the intervention visit, the 1-month follow-up visit, and the 3-month follow-up visit)

  from baseline through the 3-month follow-up visit

Study Arms (2)

Imagery rescripting

EXPERIMENTAL

This condition has three stages. In the first stage, participants were asked to select their most distressing memory related to their appearance (not physical or sexual trauma). They were asked to visualize the selected memory, in detail, as if it were happening to them again. Then, interventionists used a downward arrow technique to identify two-to-three maladaptive core schema. In the second stage, participants were asked to identify a real or imagined trusted adult. Then, they were asked to imagine what their younger self might need to cope with or feel calmer in the situation of their selected memory. In the third stage, the participant was instructed to imagine asking the trusted adult for what they need and to imagine the trusted adult providing their selected interventions and describe how they feel afterwards. These procedures were then repeated with participants' most distressing memory related to eating. This session was remote delivered via Zoom.

Behavioral: imagery rescripting

Nutrition education control

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The active control condition consisted of a time- and attention-matched general nutrition education session. The curriculum for this intervention included information from the United States Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines (e.g., food labels, describing the benefits of macronutrients). This session was remote delivered using Zoom.

Behavioral: nutrition education

Interventions

imagery rescripting BEHAVIORAL

This condition has three stages. In the first stage, participants were asked to select their most distressing memory related to their appearance (not physical or sexual trauma). They were asked to visualize the selected memory, in detail, as if it were happening to them again. Then, interventionists used a downward arrow technique to identify two-to-three maladaptive core schema. In the second stage, participants were asked to identify a real or imagined trusted adult. Then, they were asked to imagine what their younger self might need to cope with or feel calmer in the situation of their selected memory. In the third stage, the participant was instructed to imagine asking the trusted adult for what they need and to imagine the trusted adult providing their selected interventions and describe how they feel afterwards. These procedures were then repeated with participants' most distressing memory related to eating. This session was remote delivered via Zoom.

Imagery rescripting

nutrition education BEHAVIORAL

The active control condition consisted of a time- and attention-matched general nutrition education session. The curriculum for this intervention included information from the United States Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines (e.g., food labels, describing the benefits of macronutrients). This session was remote delivered using Zoom.

Nutrition education control

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• ≥18 years old
• endorse a history of at least one negative experience related to eating and/or appearance

You may not qualify if:

• endorsed a current major medical condition;
• met criteria for a full threshold psychiatric disorder (of moderate intensity when severity ratings are necessary, such as for substance use disorders and binge eating disorder);
• were at high risk for suicide;
• endorsed current or recent pregnancy or anticipated becoming pregnant within the next year;
• were taking medication known to affect eating, weight and/or chronic disease risk;
• were participating in eating, weight, or diabetes programming;
• experienced weight loss \> 10% in the past six months; and/or
• could not complete study procedures in English.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Oregon: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Oregon

Eugene, Oregon, 97401, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Kelly NR, Doty KJ, Schrag BHC, Bryant S, Plezia S, Parr NJ, Budd EL. Feasibility and acceptability of a pilot randomized trial of a single session of imagery rescripting targeting the primary consequences of negative experiences with eating and appearance. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2025 Apr 23;11(1):51. doi: 10.1186/s40814-025-01630-8.

  PMID: 40270079 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Depression; Disordered Eating Behavior

Interventions

Nutrition Assessment

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Mental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Data Collection; Epidemiologic Methods; Investigative Techniques; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Quality of Health Care; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Epidemiologic Measurements; Public Health; Environment and Public Health

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: early phase 1
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 17, 2024
• First Posted: September 24, 2024
• Study Start: June 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: April 6, 2024
• Study Completion: June 1, 2024
• Last Updated: September 24, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-09

Locations

US (1)