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Washington State Institute for Public Policy
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Body Project

Public Health & Prevention: Home- or Family-based
  Literature review updated June 2016.

Body Project is a brief 3 or 4 session group intervention for adolescent girls and young women with body image concerns. The program is focused on creating dissonance in girls regarding the thin ideal, with the goal of reducing eating disorders.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Major depressive disorder
Clinical diagnosis of major depression or symptoms measured on a validated scale.
 18 1 139 -0.054 0.122 20 -0.143 0.241
Weight change
Loss or gain of total body weight
 18 2 342 0.006 0.080 20 0.016 0.837
Primary care visits
Visit to a primary care physician for any reason.
 18 1 203 -0.013 0.105 20 -0.033 0.750
Obesity
Obese based on clinical guidelines for adults (body mass index of 30 or higher) or children (body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex), as appropriate.
18 1 75 0.099 0.248 21 0.261 0.276
Eating disorder
Clinical diagnosis of an eating disorder (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia) or symptoms on a validated scale.
 18 3 457 -0.065 0.105 20 -0.171 0.104

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Stice, E., Marti, C.N., Spoor, S., Presnell, K., & Shaw, H. (2008). Dissonance and healthy weight eating disorder prevention programs: long-term effects from a randomized efficacy trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76(2), 329-40.

Stice, E., Rohde, P., Gau, J., & Shaw, H. (2009). An effectiveness trial of a dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program for high-risk adolescent girls. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(5), 825-34.

Stice, E., Rohde, P., Shaw, H., & Gau, J. (2011). An effectiveness trial of a selected dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program for female high school students: Long-term effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(4), 500-8.

Stice, E., Butryn, M. L., Rohde, P., Shaw, H., & Marti, C. N. (2013). An effectiveness trial of a new enhanced dissonance eating disorder prevention program among female college students. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 51(12), 862-871.

Stice, E., Rohde, P., Butryn, M.L., Shaw, H., & Marti, C.N. (2015). Effectiveness trial of a selective dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program with female college students: Effects at 2- and 3-year follow-up. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 71, 20-26.