Meaning-centered Intervention for Young Women With Weight and Shape Concerns

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Eating Disorder Symptom

• Registration Number: NCT06462300
• Lead Sponsor: University of Groningen

Brief Summary

Female participants with weight and shape concerns will either receive a six-week meaning-centered intervention led by a trainer or be allocated to a waitlist condition. They will receive the same questionnaires at three time points: Before the intervention, immediately after, and four weeks later.

The researchers hypothesize that a meaning-centered intervention for young women with weight and shape issues will increase participants meaning in life and decrease their eating disorder symptoms immediately after the intervention and at 4-week follow-up when compared to a waitlist condition.

Detailed Description

Female first-year psychology students at the University of Groningen will be screened for weight and shape concerns. Those scoring in the clinically relevant range will be invited to participate in the study. After filling out the baseline measures online, the participants will be randomly allocated to a waitlist or an intervention condition. Participants in the intervention condition will follow a weekly 1-hour online intervention with a trainer for six weeks, including homework assignments. In this intervention, the aim is to increase meaning in life and decrease eating disorder symptoms. All study materials will be offered in English, Dutch, or German. Immediately after the intervention and four weeks later, the participants will receive the same questionnaires again as at baseline. The waitlist participants will not receive any intervention during the six-week period between baseline and post-assessment, but receive the same questionnaires in the same timeframe. Waitlist participants will also have the option to receive the intervention after the study has been finished.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2022-10-20
• Primary Completion: 2024-02-06
• Study Completion: 2024-02-06
• Status Verified: 2024-06
• Study First Submitted: 2024-06-03
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-06-12
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-06-12
• Study First Posted: 2024-06-17
• Last Update Posted: 2024-06-17

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 166

Inclusion Criteria

• When screened with the Weight Concerns Scale (WCS; Killen et al., 1994) and when scores of all five items were adjusted to equal a maximum score of 20, leading to a total range between 0 and 100 (cf. Jacobi et al., 2004), participant are eligible if they answer "always" or "often" to the item "Do you ever feel fat?" or have a total score ≥ 47 on the WCS or both

Exclusion Criteria

• Current treatment for eating disorder
• not fluent in English, Dutch, or German

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Meaning in life	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Presence of meaning in life subscale of Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger et al., 2006); average of 5 items with 7-point Likert scale (minimum: 1; maximum 7); the higher the score, the higher the presence of life meaning

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Tripartite domain of meaning in life: Mattering	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Mattering subscale of Multidimensional Existential Meaning Measure (George \& Park, 2016); average of 5 items on 7-point Likert scale (minimum: 1; maximum: 7); the higher the score, the higher the sense of Mattering
Depressive symptoms	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Depression subscale of Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995); sum score of 7 items on a 4-point Likert scale (minimum: 0; maximum: 21); the higher the score, the more severe the depressive symptomatology
Stress symptoms	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Stress subscale of Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995); sum score of 7 items on a 4-point Likert scale (minimum: 0; maximum: 21); the higher the score, the more severe the stress symptoms
Eating disorder symptoms	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Global score of Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (Fairburn \& Beglin, 2008); average score of 22 items on a 7-point Likert scale (minimum: 0; maximum: 6); the higher the score, the more severe the eating disorder symptomatology
Tripartite domain of meaning in life: Purpose	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Purpose subscale of Multidimensional Existential Meaning Measure (George \& Park, 2016); average of 5 items on 7-point Likert scale (minimum: 1; maximum: 7); the higher the score, the higher the sense of Purpose
Tripartite domain of meaning in life: Comprehension	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Comprehension subscale of Multidimensional Existential Meaning Measure (George \& Park, 2016); average of 5 items on 7-point Likert scale (minimum: 1; maximum: 7); the higher the score, the higher the sense of Comprehension
Internalizing symptoms	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Total score of Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995); sum score of 21 items on a 4-point Likert scale (minimum: 0; maximum: 63); the higher the score, the more severe the internalizing symptomatology
Anxiety symptoms	Baseline (week 1), post-assessment (week 7), follow-up (week 11)	Anxiety subscale of Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995); sum score of 7 items on a 4-point Likert scale (minimum: 0; maximum: 21); the higher the score, the more severe the anxiety symptoms

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Groningen; 🇳🇱 Groningen, Netherlands