Searching for Meaning: A Study Examining the Effect of a Meaning-centered Intervention
Phase: NA
Conditions: Eating Disorder Symptom
Sponsor: University of Groningen

29-09-2022 
Study Protocol: 
Searching for Meaning: A Study Examining the Effect of a Meaning-centered 
Intervention (PSY-2223-S-0010) 
 
Objective: The study objective is to assess whether a meaning-centered intervention for young 
women with weight and shape concerns leads to significant improvements when compared to 
a waitlist control condition in meaning in life across a general spectrum, but also specifically in 
Comprehension, Purpose, and Mattering. In addition, effects on eating disorder symptoms and 
internalizing symptoms in general, but also specifically for depression, anxiety, and stress, will 
be tested.   
 
Design: Intervention condition vs waitlist condition immediately after the intervention and four 
weeks later, controlling for baseline scores 
 
Methods: After students give online consent to the screening procedure, they will fill out the 
Weight Concerns Scale (WCS; Killen et al., 1994), and those meeting the inclusion criteria 
(answering “always” or “often” to the item “Do you ever feel fat?” or had a total score ≥ 47 on 
the WCS or both, and not currently being treated for an eating disorder) will be invited to 
participate in the study. Participants will fill out a separate online informed consent form for the 
main study and then indicate their demographic information, followed by completing baseline 
(T1) measures. Measures include: Meaning in Life Questionnaire – Presence subscale (MLQ; 
Steger et al., 2006); Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale (MEMS; George & Park, 
2016); Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q; Fairburn & Beglin, 2008); 
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). After 
completion of T1, participants will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or the 
waitlist condition (parallel design) through a random integer generator (Haahr, 2024). The main 
researcher (FS) will assign the participants in the intervention condition to an intervention 
trainer. Participants will then receive six only weekly individual sessions led by their trainer 
and guided by a workbook, in which they will also complete homework assignment, while 
participants in the control condition will not receive any intervention.  
Immediately after the intervention period, the participants will be invited to fill out the 
post-assessment (T2), which will include the same questionnaires and order as T1. The waitlist 
control participants will be invited to fill in T2 seven weeks after T1. Four weeks later, both 

groups will receive an invitation to fill out the follow up-assessment (T3, again with the same 
questionnaires and in the same order). The invitations for all questionnaires will be sent out via 
e-mail and participants will receive up to three reminders when they do not complete the 
assessment. After completion of the data collection, participants in the waitlist condition will 
be given the opportunity to follow the meaning-centered intervention outside of the study. All 
study parts will take place online.  
 
Statistical considerations: Sample size will be based on α-level of .05, a power of β = .80, an 
effect size of f = 0.25, number of groups = 2, number of covariates = 1, and numerator df = 1, 
leading to a required minimal sample size of N = 128. 
For our primary outcome measures, we will conduct two separate ANCOVAs to test the 
effects of the intervention on the Presence of Meaning in Life with Condition (intervention, 
waitlist) as a between-subjects factor and the baseline MLQ-P score as covariate, once with the 
post-assessment score as dependent variable and once with the follow up-assessment score as 
dependent variable. These analyses will be repeated with the secondary outcome measures 
including the MEMS subscales scores of Comprehension, Purpose, and Mattering, as well as 
the EDE-Q mean score and the DASS-21 total score and subscales Depression, Anxiety, and 
Stress as outcome variables and the according baseline scores as covariate. To correct for 
familywise error rate, we will apply Bonferroni-Holm corrections to the secondary analyses, 
resulting in the smallest p-value being tested against an α of .00625, followed by .00714, 
.00833, .01, .0125, .01667, .025, and .05. 
 
References 
Fairburn, C. G., & Beglin, S. (2008). Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 
6.0). In C. G. Fairburn (Ed.), Cognitive behavior therapy and eating disorders. 
Guilford Press.  
George, L. S., & Park, C. L. (2016). The Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale: A 
tripartite approach to measuring meaning in life. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 
12(6), 613-627. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1209546  
Haahr, M. (2024). RANDOM.ORG: True Random Number Service. Retrieved February 19, 
2024 from https://www.random.org/integers/ 
Killen, J. D., Taylor, C. B., Hayward, C., Wilson, D. M., Haydel, K. F., Hammer, L. D., 
Simmonds, B., Robinson, T. N., Litt, I., Varady, A., & Kraemer, H. (1994). Pursuit of 
thinness and onset of eating disorder symptoms in a community sample of adolescent 

girls: A three-year prospective analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 
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EAT2260160303%3E3.0.CO;2-L 
Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 
(2 ed.). Psychology Foundation  
Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: 
Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling 
Psychology, 53(1), 80-93. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.1.80