Comparing self-compassion versus body exposure for adult women with moderate to severe body dissatisfaction:A feasibility and pilot trial

This study assessed the feasibility and effectiveness of two brief online interventions for body shame for women with moderate to severe negative body image, to inform the design of a future randomized controlled trial. The primary feasibility outcomes were recruitment, measure completion rates, retention rates and internet connection failure rates. The secondary pilot outcomes were change on clinical measures and state shame ratings during the interventions. Participants were randomized to either online (40-min single session) body exposure or self-compassion interventions. Five validated nomothetic outcome measures (body dissatisfaction, appreciation, eating disorder, external shame and anxiety) were taken at three time points (preintervention, postintervention and 2-week follow-up). Subjective units of body shame (SUBS 0-100 scale) were rated every 5 min during the interventions. The target of recruiting 30 participants in 60 days was successfully achieved. The measure completion rate was high (100%), and retention rates (80% to 100%) showed moderate-to-high acceptability of the interventions. Online delivery was moderately viable with a 12.5% session disconnection rate. The self-compassion intervention significantly reduced SUBS ratings during the course of the intervention, but there was no significant improvement or difference between the interventions on nomothetic outcome measures. Findings suggest that a fully powered trial is viable, and sample size calculation and methodological requirements are provided.