Nutritional Counseling Based on Self-compassion Vs. Diet Approach on Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating

NCT ID: NCT06084260

Last Updated: 2024-10-17

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 76 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-08-16
• Study Completion Date: 2026-12-19

Brief Summary

Current evidence has shown that the accepted standard of beauty, where women must be skinny, has increased body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. In order to deal with body dissatisfaction, the practice of restrictive diets - called the diet approach - becomes very often, although it can reinforce disordered eating and has questionable effects on body dissatisfaction. Self-compassion is an approach that proposes a kind and gentle look at body image issues and eating problems, which can be an alternative tool to deal with them. So, this study aims to compare a nutritional approach based on self-compassion techniques x a diet approach on dissatisfaction with body image, food restriction, and disordered eating in women who feel dissatisfied with their bodies.

Detailed Description

A randomized clinical trial will be conducted with adult women randomly allocated into two groups - self-compassion (n=38) or diet approach (n=38) - that will follow over eight weeks. Each group will have weekly meetings of 1 hour, working on different subjects related to self-compassion or dietary choices each week, according to each group. The study outcomes are body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and self-compassion levels, measured through validated questionnaires. Data will be analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science for Windows software, and differences between the two groups will be evaluated by the Student's T-test or the Mann-Whitney U test, according to sample distribution. The Chi-square test will analyze the associations between the type of approach and all measured outcomes. Significant differences will be considered when the P value <0.05. As a result, the investigators expect that self-compassion will improve body dissatisfaction and attenuate disordered eating more than the diet approach.

Conditions

Body Dissatisfaction; Disordered Eating

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Self-compassion group

Group meetings using a self-compassion approach related to body dissatisfaction and eating issues.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Self-compassion group

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Weekly meetings using self-compassion techniques to improve body dissatisfaction and eating behavior.

Diet group

Group meetings using a restricted diet approach related to body dissatisfaction and eating issues.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Diet group

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Individual diet, with caloric restriction, associated with weekly meetings about eating habits modifications.

Interventions

Diet group

Individual diet, with caloric restriction, associated with weekly meetings about eating habits modifications.

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Self-compassion group

Weekly meetings using self-compassion techniques to improve body dissatisfaction and eating behavior.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• age between 25 and 59 years;
• access to cell phone and communication apps.

Exclusion Criteria

• diagnosis of depression, mood disorders (anxiety, bipolar, borderline), eating disorders, or a history of suicidal ideation;
• diagnosis of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease, cardiovascular or neurological diseases.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 25 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 59 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Carolina G de Souza, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre

Locations

Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Brazil

Central Contacts

Alessandra B Ramos

Role: CONTACT

alessandrabehar@gmail.com

5551998191636

Carolina G de Souza, PhD

Role: CONTACT

cgsouza@hcpa.edu.br

51992944218

Facility Contacts

Carolina G de Souza, PhD

Role: primary

cgsouza@hcpa.edu.br

51992944218

References

Ramos AB, da Silva VS, Cardoso DV, de Souza CG. Nutritional approach based in self-compassion versus energy-restricted diet approach in body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in adult women: a protocol for randomized clinical trial. PLoS One. 2025 Jun 2;20(5):e0324030. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324030. eCollection 2025.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 40455797 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

2022-0634

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id