Adult women report significant body dissatisfaction yet are often overlooked in body image promotion programs. Although few venues afford opportune settings for intervening with adult women, the church serves as a regular meeting place for many in the South of the United States. This study tested a dissonance-based body image program, Reclaiming Beauty (RB), adapted for adult women in church settings. Six groups (n = 30) were led by two trained church leaders (peer-led) and three groups (n = 21) were led by a trained peer leader and a researcher (researcher-co-led). RB participants, aged 30–77 years (M = 53.1 ± 12.7), completed assessments pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 6 months post-intervention. Waitlist-controls (n = 31) completed assessments at time intervals consistent with intervention participants. RB participants reported significantly decreased thin-ideal internalization, body surveillance, and eating psychopathology at post-intervention and at 6 months post-intervention relative to controls. RB participants also reported significantly increased body satisfaction immediately post-intervention relative to controls, but this was not significant at 6 months post-intervention. Peer-led groups outperformed researcher-co-led groups on body surveillance at 6 months, but RB conditions did not otherwise differ. Our findings provide preliminary support for the dissemination of a culturally-modified dissonance-based body image program to adult women in church settings.
Article
Dissemination of a Dissonance-Based Body Image Promotion Program in Church Settings: A Preliminary Controlled Pilot Study with Adult Women
Body Image
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2021
Disciplines
Abstract
Identifier
PMID: 33476989
DOI
10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.12.006
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd.
Citation Information
Blomquist, K. K., Hirsch, K. E., Lomas, E., Montgomery, K., & Becker, C. B. (2021). Dissemination of a dissonance-based body image promotion program in church settings: A preliminary controlled pilot study with adult women. Body Image, 36, 263-268. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.12.006