A Prevention Program for Eating Disorders in high schools: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Poster B98, Friday, October 21, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Rosa Bruna Dall'Agnola1, Elisa Ira1, Mariangela De Felice1, Caterina Diani1, Daniele Di Pauli1, Irene Fiorini1, Silvia Viccaro1, Stefano Pillan1, Lorenzo Burti1, Mirella Ruggeri1; 1University of Verona, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences
Eating disorders (ED) are severe psychiatric disorders that begin during adolescence and are associated with high risk of mortality and high compromise of quality of life. Several prevention programs have been proposed with mixed results about their efficacy. Programs based on cognitive dissonance theory, like the Body Project which addresses body image dissatisfaction, seems to demonstrate higher efficacy in reducing ED incidence, however more studies are needed to confirm these results. Moreover, its efficacy in males and in females seems to be different. This study protocol aims at evaluating the feasibility and the effectiveness of the Body Project on Italian adolescents in a naturalistic context. Students of some high schools in Verona will undergo a screening assessment in order to identify subjects at risk to develop an ED. At risk subjects, both male and female, will be randomized to receive: 1) a 4 sessions prevention program for ED or 2) 4 lessons about adolescence-related process. Both interventions will be administrated to the students by trained psychologists or medical doctors. Assessment measures will be administrated at the end of the treatment and after 6 months; the primary outcome of the study is improvement in body satisfaction. The expected number of recruited subjects is about 100. The details of the protocol will be extensively described in the presentation. We expect that this study will generate evidence on the effectiveness of the Body Project in Italian high schools, will increase the knowledge about its differential efficacy on males and females.
Topic Area: Psychosocial Interventions