Online body image training

Our society has strong rules about which physical properties are considered 'good' and which are considered ‘bad’. Strongly believing (internalizing) such body ideals, can lead to body dissatisfaction if you feel your body does not meet these standards. A negative body image is an important characteristic of eating disorders and is often difficult to change with treatment. We have developed an online body image training with the aim of training a healthier view of body size. Previous research showed that women with a negative body image suffered less from eating disorder symptoms after following this training. In this follow-up study we wanted to investigate whether this also works in young women with an eating disorder.

Twelve young women with an eating disorder participated in this study. They completed six computer training sessions of approximately ten minutes at home in addition to their regular treatment. During this training they had to judge 3D images of a female model that varied in size. The task was to indicate whether they thought the model was 'fat' or 'thin'. Through feedback on their answers, they gradually learned to move the 'thin' to 'fat' threshold to models with a larger size.

The training had a small but significant effect on improving body image. No effect on eating disorder symptoms was found. Nevertheless, these results are promising, because we were able to show a positive effect on body image with a short training in addition to the normal treatment.
The next step is to make the training more effective and also more fun to do. This because many girls indicated that the training was a bit boring. After implementing these improvements, we can research the improved version and see if we can add the training to existing eating disorder treatments.

We conducted this research in collaboration with Northumbria University in Newcastle and Catholic University Leuven. For all our research into nutritional and eating disorders, we collaborate with the faculty of clinical psychology and experimental psychopathology at the University of Groningen.