Evaluating Dove Confident Me Single Session in Indonesia

Summary

Negative body image is an important public health concern for young people due to its prevalence and detrimental impact on young people's health, education, and social life. Encouragingly, a number of interventions have been designed to improve adolescent body image in school settings, with promising results. However, the vast majority of studies testing these interventions are conducted in high-income, English speaking countries, despite increasingly recognition that negative body image is a global concern. As such, it is important to develop and disseminate interventions to foster positive body image among adolescents in low-to-middle income countries, too.

Research indicates high prevalence rates of negative body image among adolescents in many Asian countries. Indonesia - the focus of the present research - is an emerging middle-income country in South East Asia. A recent U-Report Poll (UNICEF, 2020) found almost 80% of the young people surveyed wanted to change something about their appearance, suggesting a degree of body dissatisfaction and approximately 50% stopped themselves from doing something that was important to them because of appearance concerns. Moreover, according to the same poll, over 90% of Indonesian adolescents surveyed reported to wanting to learn ways to improve their body image in school or online.

To date, no body image interventions have been adapted and trialled in Indonesia. Therefore, this project aims to evaluate the effectiveness as well as the acceptability and feasibility of a specially adapted version of Dove Confident Me Single Session among Indonesian adolescents that will be integrated into UNICEF's Life Skills Education curriculum. Notably, the session has been designed to be feasible to deliver in low-resource schools (e.g., that do not access to the internet or facilities to show videos or PowerPoint slides).

To assess the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of the intervention, the study will compare the body image and well-being of students who take part in the programme to students who do not take part in any programme (classes as usual). Investigators will also gather in-depth feedback from students, and teachers via focus groups and surveys, in order to inform future improvement of the programme for wider implementation.

To undertake this project, the investigators will recruit students and teachers from approximately 10 state junior secondary schools in Indonesia via a local research agency. Students will complete questionnaire assessments of body image and well-being before and after programme period, and again 8 weeks later to assess longer-term benefits.

COVID response: In light of the ongoing pandemic, some research activities will take place online. Decisions on delivery format (online / in-person / hybrid) were made on the basis of continued risk assessments and considerations of local government guidelines.

Conditions

• Body Image

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Dove Confident Me Indonesia Single Session

Dove Confident Me Indonesia Single Session is an adaptation of Dove Confident Me Global Single Session, designed to be facilitated by schoolteachers or school counsellors. Dove Confident Me Indonesia includes four interactive activities (to be delivered in a single 90-minute session) as well as a homework challenge and commitment pledge. The programme incorporates three primary techniques to improve Indonesian adolescents' body confidence and self-esteem: (1) psychoeducation, (2) media literacy, and (3) cognitive dissonance as well as two secondary techniques: (4) self-affirmation and (5) cognitive reframing. As the curriculum was adapted to be delivered in Indonesian schools with limited resources, videos or PowerPoint presentations are not included. Instead, a detailed teacher guide and student worksheets are provided. Due to COVID-19, the intervention will be delivered online via video conferencing platform.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Indonesia University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Hawaii

  collaborator OTHER

• UNICEF

  collaborator OTHER

• Unilever R&D

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• University of the West of England

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nadia Craddock, PhD · Centre for Appearance Research, UWE

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

11 Years

Max Age

15 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-03-01

Primary Completion

2022-04-04

Completion

2022-07-01

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations