Overvaluation of Weight and Shape Intervention vs The Body Project

NCT07678554 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 79760
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 90
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Priorities aims to reduce body image concerns, prevent eating disorders, bolster self-esteem, and promote mental and emotional health by helping participants identify and nurture alternative sources of self-worth. Priorities would use group discussions, role-plays \& behavioral challenges, homework assignments \& letter-writing, and self-worth activism to achieve this. The Priorities intervention will be compared to The Body Project (an existing and successful harm reduction and eating disorder prevention program) for its effectiveness of reducing body image concerns and eating disorder outcomes. This study aims to evaluate whether there is a more effective eating disorder prevention program than The Body Project.

Conditions

Body Image; Mental Health Outcomes; Eating Disorders; Body Dysmorphic Disorders; Self-esteem

Keywords

Eating disorder; Female; Body project; Priorities; self-esteem; adolescent mental health; Body dysmorphia; Disordered eating

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Priorities Questionnaire- updated

  Participants will be surveyed on the following measures before and after the intervention: self-report measure of weight/shape overvaluation, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, harms from social media scale and mental health scales, depression questionnaire, anxiety questionnaire, PANAS scale for negative affect, as well as the self-report Eating Disorder Diagnostic Screen (assessing eating disorder symptoms using the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Survey (EDDS), a brief self-report scale. The EDDS symptom composite contains convergent validity with the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Interview (EDDI) as well as closely aligned diagnosis).

  Both Priorities and the Body Project consist of four 1-hour weekly sessions occurring over four weeks. The questionnaire will be administered at baseline (before session 1), post-test (after session 4), 1 month follow up, and 3 month follow up.

Study Arms (2)

Priorities

EXPERIMENTAL

Arm: Participants randomly assigned to receieve the priorities intervention Priorities aims to reduce body image concerns, prevent eating disorders, bolster self-esteem, and promote mental and emotional health by helping participants identify and nurture alternative sources of self-worth. Priorities would use group discussions, role-plays \& behavioral challenges, homework assignments \& letter-writing, and self-worth activism to achieve this. Priorities script: https://shorturl.at/UzWQG

Behavioral: Priorities

Body Project

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The Body Project is the only ED prevention program that has repeatedly reduced future onset of EDs, produced effects when evaluated by independent researchers, produced stronger effects than credible alternative interventions, and affected objective outcomes (Stice et al., 2019). The Body Project is a dissonance-based ED prevention program wherein high-risk young women with body image concerns collectively critique pursuit of the thin appearance ideal in verbal, written, and behavioral exercises. It has produced greater reductions in risk factors (pursuit of the thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, dieting, negative affect), ED symptoms, and future ED onset over a 2- to 4-year follow-ups than assessment-only control conditions and alternative interventions in over 25 controlled trials (e.g., Becker et al., 2010; Ghaderi et al.,2020; Halliwell \& Diedrichs, 2014; Stice et al., 2000, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2020). Link to script: https://shorturl.at/6SSmP

Behavioral: Body Project

Interventions

Priorities BEHAVIORAL

Priorities aims to reduce body image concerns, prevent eating disorders, bolster self-esteem, and promote mental and emotional health by helping participants identify and nurture alternative sources of self-worth. Priorities would use group discussions, role-plays \& behavioral challenges, homework assignments \& letter-writing, and self-worth activism to achieve this. Priorities script: https://shorturl.at/UzWQG

Priorities

Body Project BEHAVIORAL

The Body Project is the only ED prevention program that has repeatedly reduced future onset of EDs, produced effects when evaluated by independent researchers, produced stronger effects than credible alternative interventions, and affected objective outcomes (Stice et al., 2019). The Body Project is a dissonance-based ED prevention program wherein high-risk young women with body image concerns collectively critique pursuit of the thin appearance ideal in verbal, written, and behavioral exercises. It has produced greater reductions in risk factors (pursuit of the thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, dieting, negative affect), ED symptoms, and future ED onset over a 2- to 4-year follow-ups than assessment-only control conditions and alternative interventions in over 25 controlled trials (e.g., Becker et al., 2010; Ghaderi et al.,2020; Halliwell \& Diedrichs, 2014; Stice et al., 2000, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2020). Body Project Script: https://shorturl.at/6SSmP

Body Project

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 14 Years - 22 Years
• Gender Eligibility Details: Female-identifying
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Female-identifying
• High School
• College Adolescents
• Ages 14-22

You may not qualify if:

• Non-female identifying
• Outside of the United States

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Stanford University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Stanford University

Stanford, California, 94305, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding and Eating Disorders; Body Dysmorphic Disorders

Interventions

Health Priorities

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Signs and Symptoms, Digestive; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Mental Disorders; Somatoform Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Health Planning; Health Care Economics and Organizations; Delivery of Health Care; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation

Study Officials

• Eric Stice, PhD

  Stanford University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Sareena Shah

CONTACT

7737079798; sshah04@stanford.edu

Jasmine E Lopez, BA

CONTACT

7609051706; jasglo@stanford.edu

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: Principle Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 21, 2026
• First Posted: July 1, 2026
• Study Start: July 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027
• Last Updated: July 7, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)