(PS7-100) Brief Intervention for Reducing the Risk of Eating Disorders: Self-compassion-based and Dissonance-based Intervention

Background: Risk factors for eating disorders include body dissatisfaction and internalization of the thin ideal. Body dissatisfaction refers to negative evaluations and negative feelings toward one's own body, and internalization of the thin ideal refers to incorporating slimness as one's own values and ideals. The effective preventive interventions for eating disorders include Dissonance-based intervention (DBI) and self-compassion intervention. DBI aims to reduce internalization of the thin ideal by creating cognitive dissonance. Self-compassion is being kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings. In this study, we investigated a more effective intervention method by adding elements of self-compassion intervention to DBI.

Methods: The research participants were 30 female students at Nagoya City University who agreed to participate in this study and who had moderate or low self-image dissatisfaction. They were randomly assigned 15 to the experimental group and 15 to the control group. The experimental group received approximately 60 minutes of intervention, including psychoeducation on self-compassion and the problems of the thin ideal. They were asked to do homework for two weeks to maintain what they had learned in the intervention. The control group received approximately 40 minutes of health and nutrition education. To verify the effectiveness of the intervention, we administered the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Self-Image Dissatisfaction Scale (SIDS), the internalization factor of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4), and the negative emotions subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule before and after the intervention.

Results: A Mann-Whitney U test was performed to examine differences between groups regarding the amount of change in scores for each index before and after the intervention. The experimental group showed a significant increase in the positive self-compassion factor of SCS and a significant decrease in negative self-compassion factor of SCS compared to the control group. Furthermore, the significant decrease in the self-criticism subfactor and self-image dissatisfaction subfactor of SCS and the internalization factor of SATAQ-4 significantly decreased was shown.

Conclusion: By adding an element of self-compassion to the DBI, participants were less likely to criticize their own bodies and were able to understand that everyone has concerns about their body shape, which in turn reduced participants' self-image dissatisfaction. It is also possible that DBI caused participants to experience cognitive dissonance, causing them to match their beliefs with their actions, thereby reducing internalization of the slimming ideal. The findings from this study suggest that implementing an intervention that incorporates elements of self-compassion intervention into DBI may be effective in reducing the risk of eating disorders. In the future, it would be desirable to implement interventions targeting younger people.