None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Media Smart-Targeted (MST) is a 9-module website designed to reduce eating disorder risk (ED: e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder) in young-adult women aged 18-25 years. MST was adapted from Media Smart, which is the leading school-based ED risk reduction program worldwide. MST encourages users to look at the way they interpret media messages, their use of social media and strategies that might be helpful in reducing pressures they feel. This study will expand on the first MST study by increasing the target audience and maximising user engagement by: including both females and males; increasing the target age group to include younger participants (13-17 years in addition to the 18-25 years); refining program content based on results from the first RCT; and, comparing outcomes for flexible program delivery (user’s own pace, MST-F) versus standard weekly module release (MST-S; used in the RCT). Once again we will take a national approach. People will self-refer to the website, complete consent and online baseline questionnaires and then be automatically randomised to: MST-F; MST-S; or control conditions. Measures will then be completed at post-program, 6- and 12-month follow-up. We hypothesise that those in the MST-F condition will complete more of the program than those in the MST-S condition and that this will lead to greater benefits on the outcome variables.
Interventions
Media Smart-Targeted (MST) is a 9-module mobile website designed to reduce eating disorder risk (ED: e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder). The program includes content targeting: media internalisation, social media usage, emotion regulation, and helpful eating habits. Examples of learning content includes: find online advertisements that stereotype men, women and lifestyle then make a virtual poster to ‘send-up’ these stereotypes; video clips showing various techniques
Media Smart-Targeted (MST) is a 9-module mobile website designed to reduce eating disorder risk (ED: e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder). The program includes content targeting: media internalisation, social media usage, emotion regulation, and helpful eating habits. Examples of learning content includes: find online advertisements that stereotype men, women and lifestyle then make a virtual poster to ‘send-up’ these stereotypes; video clips showing various techniques used pre and post photography to manipulate images presented in media; strategies for reducing appearance checking and managing emotions when feeling distressed (e.g., 3-minute breathing space, distress tolerance strategies); and, activities aimed at eliciting personal values then focusing on short and long-term goal setting and the plans needed to reach these. MST is an adapted form of the school-based program Media Smart that has shown positive effects in young-adolescents. MST is a self-guided website (i.e., no moderator involved). Participants cannot see other participants responses. Participants are asked to complete homework tasks after each module (e.g., experiment with reducing social media use). Each module takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and involves watching educational videos, reading relevant information and typing answers to questions. In this RCT, there will be two versions of MST: 1) weekly release of modules as per previous research (i.e., 9 weeks in duration), and 2) user can choose their rate of program completion (i.e., number of weeks not determined but it is assumed that this will generally be less than 9 weeks). Module adherence will be monitored by website diagnostic data that will record dates, time and duration of logins.
Sponsors
Flinders University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
13 Years to 25 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Aged 13-25 years and wishing to improve body image
Exclusion criteria
suicide risk (e.g., have a suicide plan); alcohol or substance abuse (e.g., withdrawal effects); or, severe anorexia (i.e., body mass index < 15.0).
Outcome results
None listed