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Healthy Sport Project; Preventing Eating Disorders in Sport

Healthy Sport Project: Recovery, Body Acceptance and Health in Young Athletes

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05583162
Acronym
HSP
Enrollment
73
Registered
2022-10-17
Start date
2022-08-10
Completion date
2023-06-30
Last updated
2024-04-02

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

Conditions

Adolescent - Emotional Problem, Athletic Injuries, Body Dissatisfaction, Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders

Keywords

eating disorders, disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, figure idealisation, mental health, prevention, athlete, sport, adolescent, elite sport

Brief summary

The Healthy Sport Project is an adapted program from the Body Project by prof Eric Stice, aiming to reduce body dissatisfaction and symptoms of disordered eating and eating disorders in adolescent elite athletes. This trial aim to evaluate the effect of the program using a one-arm pilot study design in 14 years age old athletes at a Norwegian Elite Sport Junior High School.

Detailed description

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious illnesses with highest incidence in adolescents. Moreover, athletes have a higher frequency of symptoms of disordered eating (DE) and EDs than non-athletes. There are many reasons to this health issue, but body appearance pressure, competing in body mass sensitive sports, and comments on body appearance are important explanations. Few programs have proved effective in preventing DE and EDs in the general population, or in athletes specifically, and none is permanent operative in sports in Norway. Body Project by prof Eric Stice have proved effective in preventing body dissatisfaction, figure idealization and new onset of EDs in female adolescents above 15 years of age, and with body dissatisfaction, from the general population. A few attempts to adapt this program to female athletes, argue for a comparative positive effect. Three important elements to further address, are: 1) programs need also to be tested in males; 2) programs need to be tested in adolescents of younger age before the typical onset of an ED; and 3) programs need to be possible to administer by non-professionals. In this study the research group aim to adapt and test the effect of the Body Project, by the pilot study the Healthy Sport Project, in elite junior athletes attending specialized junior sport high schools (age 14). The final goal for this project group is to create an effective preventive program for body dissatisfaction and DE/EDs in young athletes of both sexes and in mixed sports, and which may be administered by the schoolteachers.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALHealthy Sport Project

2 interactive information lectures (given per class of 30 pupils), and 4 interactive workshops (given to sex-homogenous groups of 10 pupils). One per week, a total of 6 weeks with intervention.

Sponsors

Norwegian School of Sport Sciences
CollaboratorOTHER
Oslo University Hospital
CollaboratorOTHER
Ostfold University College
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE

Masking description

Masking is not performed in a one-arm study

Intervention model description

A cohort of athletes receive intervention in this pilot study, and changes from pre to post intervention are evaluated

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
13 Years to 14 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* pupil at the recruited Sport Jr High School

Exclusion criteria

* no informed consent from parents * not willing to participate * a diagnosis of an eating disorder and being under (or waiting for) treatment

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in symptoms of internalization of body figure ideals, SATAQ-4Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention10 Questions from subscales of SATAQ-4 (thinness idealisation and muscularity idealization), rated by 5 point Likert Scale. By Schaefer et al 2015
Change in symptoms of Eating Disorder, Eating Disorder Questionnaire Short-formBefore intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention9 Questions on eating restriction, on worries for body weight and appearance. Rated by number of days the different content has been relevant. By Fairburn and Beglin, 2008
Change in Body Acceptance, Body Acceptance Scale, version 2Before intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention10 Questions on body acceptance, rated by a 5 point Likert Scale (never - always). By Halliwell et al 2017.
Experiences from participating in the projectAfter intervention (post, +6 weeks)Focus group interview following a semistructured manual; asking for experiences with participation in the Healthy Sport Project

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in nutrition knowledge, questions by research groupBefore intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention3 questions asking for examples of foods providing carbohydrates; proteins; fats, respectively.
Change in experiences of Body Appearance Pressure (BAP), questions by research groupBefore intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of interventionQuestion on experience of BAP (if it is experienced yes/no)
Change in dietary habits, questions by research groupBefore intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of interventionQuestions on meal frequency (numbers); frequency of intake of fruit and vegetables (number of portions); frequency of intake of dairy products (number of portions); frequency of intake of fish (number of portions)

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Question on injuries, questions by research groupBefore intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of intervention1 Questions asking for any incident of injury (yes/no)
Demographics, questions by research groupBefore intervention, After intervention (post, +6 weeks), 6 months after end of interventionAge (years)

Countries

Norway

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026