School-Based Body Image Concerns Prevention

NCT07189559 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: D.BODY/2025
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 449
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The present study, sought to adapt Digital Bodies (a single-session intervention promoted in the United Kingdom (Bell et al., 2022) for the Italian school context and to assess its effectiveness as a single-session intervention aimed at challenging unrealistic appearance ideals and appearance-related pressures within social media environments. The study includes a cluster randomized controlled trial with two assessment points (baseline, post-intervention and 8-week follow-up) comparing the "Digital Bodies" program to a no-intervention control group. To ensure that all students benefit from the intervention, the control group received the intervention after the 8 weeks.

Conditions

Wait List Control; Intervention Program

Keywords

school-based intervention; adolescents; unrealistic appearance ideals; social media

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Body Satisfaction

  Body satisfaction was measured using the Body Satisfaction Scale (BSS) (Bird et al., 2013). The scale comprises five items (e.g., "Do you feel satisfied with your appearance?"), rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = never, 5 = very often). Total scores range from 1 to 25, with higher values indicating greater body satisfaction. The items were translated into Italian and back-translated by a professional bilingual.

  Basal, post.treatment, 8-week follow-up

• Internalization of Appearance Ideals

  Internalization of appearance ideals was assessed using the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-4R). The SATAQ-4R, in both its male and female forms, consists of seven conceptually coherent subscales. Three of these capture aspects of internalization. The remaining four subscales assess perceived sociocultural pressures: from family, peers, significant others, and the media. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Higher scores indicate higher perceived sociocultural pressures

  Basal, post-intervention, 8-week follow-up

• Self-Objectification

  Self-objectification was evaluated with the Likert Self-Objectification Questionnaire (LSOQ) (Wollast et al., 2021). Participants ranked 10 body attributes according to their importance for self-concept (1 = not at all important, 11 = very important). Five attributes reflect appearance (e.g., sexual appeal, physical attractiveness), while five reflect competence (e.g., health, strength). Scores are calculated by subtracting the sum of the appearance attributes from the sum of the competence attributes (range= -25 to 25). Higher scores reflect a greater emphasis on the importance of appearance-based physical attributes over competency-based attributes, that is, high levels of self-objectification.

  Basal, post-intervention, 8-week follow-up

Study Arms (2)

Digital Bodies intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

The Digital Bodies intervention consists of a one-hour interactive session. The session begins with a brief self-affirmation exercise, in which participants are asked to describe something important to them and explain why. The core of the intervention involves the use of cognitive dissonance techniques and the development of critical literacy skills to encourage adolescents to critically reflect on appearance ideals, as well as to foster the skills needed to challenge such ideals. The content focuses on (i) the socially constructed nature of body ideals across time and culture, with particular attention to social media spaces, (ii) the deconstruction of myths surrounding the "perfect body" (e.g., image editing, idealization), again with a focus on social media environments, and (iii) the role of adolescents in creating, perpetuating, and reinforcing these ideals through digital technologies, including social media.

Behavioral: Digital Bodies

Waitlist control

NO INTERVENTION

No-intervention control group. To ensure that all students benefit from the intervention, the control group received the intervention after the 8 weeks.

Interventions

Digital Bodies BEHAVIORAL

The Digital Bodies intervention consists of a one-hour interactive session. The core of the intervention involves the use of cognitive dissonance techniques and the development of critical literacy skills to encourage adolescents to critically reflect on appearance ideals, as well as to foster the skills needed to challenge such ideals.

Digital Bodies intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 16 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• First or second year of upper secondary school

You may not qualify if:

• They and their parents did not provide written informed consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Villa Garda Hospital: lead

Study Sites (1)

Villa Garda Hospital

Garda, Verona, 37138, Italy

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Head nutrition and endocrinology Villa Garda Hospital

Model Details: Intervention vs no intervention

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 16, 2025
• First Posted: September 24, 2025
• Study Start: November 6, 2024
• Primary Completion: May 29, 2025
• Study Completion: May 29, 2025
• Last Updated: October 2, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

IT (1)