Effectiveness of a School-based Body Image Intervention on Eating Problems and Self-Esteem in Female Adolescents with Eating Disorders

Social media can cause body dissatisfaction by presenting social ideals about appearance. This dissatisfaction can lead to eating problems and low self-esteem, which is frequently seen in adolescents. Therefore, intervention in this situation can be valuable for research and treatment purposes. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the school-based intervention “Dove Confident Me” on eating problems and self-esteem in female adolescents with eating disorders. This quasi-experimental research was performed using a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the research included all female high school students in Bandar Abbas (Iran) in 2021. A total of 47 female students were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to experimental (23 people) and control (24 people) groups. Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used to collect data. Research hypotheses were tested using multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA). The results indicated that the school-based intervention “Dove Confident Me” had a significant effect on the improvement of symptoms of eating disorders (F = 6.41, p < 0.05) and self-esteem (F = 5.35, p < 0.05) in female adolescents with eating disorders. According to the findings, the “Dove Confident Me” intervention can improve eating problems and self-esteem of female adolescents with eating disorders by correcting social ideals about appearance and improving media literacy. Furthermore, it can be applied as an effective treatment and training method.