Effectiveness of an Intervention Program to Improve Body Image and Self-Esteem Among Female Adolescent Aesthetic Athletes.

Eating disorders can cause a decrease in athletic performance and affect the overall health of athletes. Athletes are exposed to an increased risk of developing pathological eating behaviors and dissatisfaction with their bodies. A number of studies have found higher rates of eating pathologies in aesthetic sports such as dance, ice skating, and gymnastics. Other studies have found that intervention programs designed to prevent eating disorders in athletes have yielded promising results. The current study will examine the effects of a controlled clinical intervention program designed to prevent eating disorders and improve the body image of female adolescent figure skaters and dancers. The program will consist of ten 45-minute interactive sessions led by the researcher. Each session will include a brief theoretical background, experiential activities (artistic or cognitive / emotional) and group discussions. The control group shall include age matched athletes who will not participate in the intervention program. The impact of the intervention shall be assessed with a nonrandomized, controlled experimental group design. To assess the impact and outcome of the intervention, all participants in the research and control groups will be asked to complete the study questionnaire at pre, post, and 3-month (after post) follow-up assessments. Process evaluation, which assesses program dissemination, attendance and relapse rates, as well as assessment of participants' satisfaction, will be performed at the end of the program. The study questionnaire includes: Personal and Demographic Information, EDI-2 (Eating Disorders Inventory), Body Esteem Scale-Mendelson, SATAQ-4 (Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4), EDE-Q 8 (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire- 8), BAS (Body Appreciation Scale). All questionnaires have good psychometric properties. The study hypothesis is that the intervention program will result in improvement in the intervention group in terms of: disturbed eating behaviors, pursuit of thinness, body-dissatisfaction and external influences on body image compared with an age-matched control group that did not participate in the program.