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Table 1 Body functionality programs for emerging adults (18–25 years)

From: Virtual prevention of eating disorders in children, adolescents, and emerging adults: a scoping review

References

Type of study

Sample size

Intervention

Outcomes

Results

Alleva et al. [21]

RCT

Individuals with a desire to improve how they feel about their bodies

n = 41 Expand Your Horizon

n = 40 control

Expand Your Horizon: 3 online body functionality writing exercises (describing functions of the body, why they are personally meaningful, etc.); 15 min each. Active Control: creativity training program

MBSRQ-AS, BES, BAS, SOQ, OBC

At post-test and 1-week follow-up, intervention participants experienced greater appearance satisfaction, functionality (body esteem) satisfaction, and body appreciation, and lower levels of self-objectification, compared to controls. Small to medium effect sizes

Alleva et al. [22]

RCT

Individuals with a desire to improve how they feel about their bodies

n = 132 Expand Your Horizon

n = 129 control

Expand Your Horizon: 3 online body functionality writing exercises (describing functions of the body, why they are personally meaningful, etc.); 15 min each. Active Control: creativity training program

MBSRQ-AS, BES-physical condition subscale, BAS-2, BCQ, BSI, VAS (body satisfaction)

Relative to controls, intervention participants experienced improved appearance (body area) satisfaction, functionality satisfaction, body appreciation, and body complexity at post-test, 1-week follow-up, and 1-month follow-up. Neither body complexity nor body self-integration mediated intervention effects

Urvelyte et al. [23]

RCT

Female university students

n = 60 Expand Your Horizon

n = 53 control

Expand Your Horizon: 3 online body functionality writing exercises (describing functions of the body, why they are personally meaningful, etc.); 15 min each. Active Control: creativity training program

FAS, BAS-2, OBC (body surveillance subscale), BIQLI

Body functionality satisfaction and positive body image significantly increased among those in the intervention vs. control from pre- to post-intervention. The intervention was not effective in improving body image quality of life and self-objectification

Davies et al. [24]

RCT

Women with weight bias internalization (endorsed 1 item on WBIS-M)

n = 72 Expand Your Horizon

n = 63 Active control

Expand Your Horizon: modified version, where participants viewed 3 different videos featuring women expressing gratitude for their body functions and subsequently had to write for 10 min responding to prompts related to each video

Active control: general expressive writing intervention and viewed 3 different videos, similar to the intervention

WBIS-M, FAS, SCS-SF, healthcare stress (e.g., anxiety around healthcare encounters)

While both conditions demonstrated improvements on study variables, the effects over time (from baseline to post-test and 1-week follow-up) were significantly stronger for intervention participants, including improvements in weight bias internalization, functionality appreciation, and self-compassion. Intervention participants also had significantly greater improvements in healthcare stress at follow-up compared to controls

Mulgrew et al. [25]

RCT

Female university students

n = 54 Body Image program

n = 63 Stress management program(control)

For both programs, 3 sessions were completed over 2 weeks (each was 30–40 min long

Body Image program: Session 1-viewed videos and images related to body functionality (e.g., about diversity in women’s body shapes) and wrote reflections. Session 2–3 online writing tasks reflecting positively on body functionality, appearance, and uniqueness

Stress Management program: session 1-viewed videos and images related to managing stress and maintaining a healthy headspace and wrote reflections. Session 2–3 online writing tasks on the triggers of stress, strategies to manage stress, and relaxation techniques

Session 3 (for both groups): Participants had to view images representing the Western Beauty ideal and answered questions

VAS, BAS-2, BES, SOQ

Participants in both groups had improvements in body appreciation, self-objectification, and weigh concerns from pre- to post-test. Within-session state improvements were found across stress, body appreciation, appearance, and functionality satisfaction for both groups. Body Image program participants had significantly greater improvements in appearance satisfaction and body appreciation than those in the stress management program

  1. RCT randomized controlled trial, MBSRQ-AS multidimensional body self-relations questionnaire-appearance subscales, BES body esteem scale, BAS body appreciation scale, SOQ self-objection questionnaire, OBC objectified body consciousness scale, BCQ body complexity questionnaire, BSI body-self integration scale, VAS visual analogue scale, FAS functionality appreciation scale, BIQLI body image quality of life inventory, WBIS-M modified weight bias internalization scale, SCS-SF self-compassion scale-short form