Procedure
Creators: name: Walker, D.
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022

description: Research strategy: The study aims to recruit a total of 225 undergraduate students over the course of two academic years (2018-2020) to participate in a 3 week-long program with one- and four-month follow-up assessments. Participant recruitment will be conducted campus-wide via flyers, flyers specifically posted in the Counseling Center, campus-wide email announcements, and targeted recruitment in sororities and via the psychology department’s research pool. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1. A text-based functionality gratitude “journaling” prompt three times weekly paired with weekly functionality ME sessions in the lab (the IM FAB program); 2. Thrice weekly generic (non body-focused) gratitude text prompts and pure ME in the lab (no instructions on how to examine body parts, only instructed to examine the same specific body parts) to control specifically for impacts of the body functionality focus; and 3. A no-intervention control group that only completes assessments at matching time points in the lab (weeks 1-3, and at one- and four-month follow-up); totaling 75 participants per group. Prior to beginning the week of journaling, at their first lab session, participants will complete measures of self-esteem, affect, body image satisfaction, body appreciation, self-objectification, body checking and avoidance behaviors, and symptom measures of anxiety, depression, and disordered eating and exercise behaviors. Participants will also complete measures assessing typical eating and exercise at the baseline assessment. Participants will complete the same assessments at the end of the three-week program, and at a one- and four-month follow-up assessments (via online survey) to examine effects of consolidation and any longer-lasting impacts the intervention may have. During each ME session (weeks 1-3), participants will complete the measures of state self-esteem, affect, state body image satisfaction, body appreciation, and self-objectification both directly before and directly after the ME procedure (those in the no-intervention control condition will only complete these measures once in weeks 1-3 since they are not receiving an in-lab procedure) to assess direct impacts of the ME. Manipulation check questions will be included directly following each ME or control session and feasibility and usability questions will be included at the Week 3 assessment point. Questions will also assess participants’ views on conducting a similar intervention via app-delivery without the in-person ME sessions. The ME component involves participants listening to a guided audio recording that provides instructions on how to examine body parts, one-by-one. The functionality ME will specifically direct participants to think about what that body part enables them to do or experience. For example, when examining one’s foot, participants will be asked to “think about what your foot enables you to do or experience…(pause)…Think of the many places your feet have taken you and how your life may have been different without them.” When examining their noses, participants will be asked to “think about what your nose enables you to do or experience…(pause)…Think of things you have smelled or tasted before…(pause)…Think of how your nose is specifically shaped and designed to enable you to experience those smells…(pause)…Think of how important your sense of smell is to sensing dangerous or poisonous substances…(pause)…Now, think of how important your sense of smell is to experiencing pleasure.” Data analysis: Multilevel modeling, which best accounts for interdependence of error typically found in repeated measures designs will be used. Qualitative data analysis will be used to examine gratitude text-responses