Dissonance Eating Disorder Prevention: Clinician Led, Peer Led vs Web Delivered

Although dozens of eating disorder prevention programs have been evaluated, only a dissonance-based program (the Body Project) has significantly reduced future onset of threshold and subthreshold eating disorders through long-term follow-up. An effectiveness trial found that the Body Project produced significant reductions in risk factors, eating disorder symptoms, and functional impairment relative to educational brochure controls, with some effects persisting through 3-yr follow-up when high school clinicians recruited students and delivered the program. These trials confirm the efficacy and effectiveness of the Body Project, but revealed a key dissemination barrier; it can be difficult to identify and recruit clinicians at high schools and colleges with the time and expertise to competently deliver the program.

One solution to this key dissemination barrier is to train students in established peer leader programs at colleges to recruit high-risk students and deliver the program. Another solution to this dissemination barrier would be to deliver the Body Project via the Internet.

Because peer-led groups and Internet delivery of the Body Project could markedly extend the reach and sustainability of this evidence-based program, we propose to conduct the first large multi-site effectiveness trial that directly compares the effects and cost effectiveness of peer-led Body Project groups, the eBody Project intervention, and clinician-led Body Project groups to an educational video control condition.

Inclusion criteria

• Body image concerns
• Attend University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of Texas at Austin, or Southwestern University

Exclusion criteria

• Meeting criteria for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder
• Suicidal ideation