Can media literacy reduce eating disorder risk factors in young adolescents? A controlled evaluation.

School-based media literacy program for reducing eating disorder risk factors in young adolescents: A controlled evaluation

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12608000545369

Enrollment

540

Registered

2008-10-28

Start date

2005-05-23

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

The key objective of the current study was to address the shortcomings of previous universal eating disorder prevention programs by evaluating in a methodologically rigorous manner if a theoretically-informed prevention program (media literacy) can be effective in reducing eating disorder risk in a controlled trial with a universal, young-adolescent, mixed gender audience.

Interventions

The media literacy program was an 8-lesson (50 minutes each) school-based program delivered by the primary researcher (SW, with the regular class teacher also present). Media literacy aims to target media internalisation (strong investment in societal ideals of size and appearance to the point that they become rigid, guiding principles), which has been prospectively identified as an eating disorder risk factor. The program was informed by previous trials as well as a pilot evaluation. It was designed to be interactive (e.g., small group work, class discussions) as this approach has been found to have a self-esteem enhancing effect and to thus be more valuable than didactic delivery. The program was constructed around the key concepts of literacy, activism and advocacy. It was delivered at the rate of 2 lessons per week and thus took 4 weeks to complete.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Parallel

Primary purpose

Prevention

Masking

Open (masking not used)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

12 Years to 14 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

Grade 8 students from 4 randomly selected secondary schools

Exclusion criteria

None (participants were intact school classes, meaning no students from each class was excluded)

Outcome results