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Governments, schools, and curriculum authorities are increasingly recognizing that body image during adolescence is a public health issue that warrants attention in the school setting.After 30 years of eating disorder prevention research, and given the current interest in this area, it seems timely to review the research on interventions to improve body image in schools. We reviewed universal-selective, classroom-based programs that have been conducted since the year 2000, among adolescents, and found 16 eligible intervention programs. Seven of these programs were effective in improving body image on at least one measure, from pre to post test, though effect sizes were small (d = 0.22-0.48). These effective programs were conducted among younger adolescents 12.33-13.62 years, and included activities focusing on media literacy, self esteem, and the influence of peers.Implications for school personnel and curriculum authorities are discussed, and we provide recommendations for a strategic approach to future research in this area. Keywords: body image, schools, intervention, prevention, adolescents Running Head: WHAT WORKS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS?3 What works in secondary schools? A systematic review of classroom-based body image programs Body dissatisfaction is common during adolescence. Approximately 70% of adolescent girls and 45% of boys want to change their body weight or shape (Smolak, 2012). Australian adolescents have consistently ranked body image as their number one concern in the Mission Australia Survey over the past six years (Mission Australia, 2006. Similarly, levels of body dissatisfaction among adolescent girls in the USA have remained relatively stable since 1999 (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2012). Body dissatisfaction during adolescence has been associated with a number of negative health outcomes in prospective studies, most notably the onset of dieting and disordered eating behaviors (Neumark-Sztainer, Paxton, Hannan, Haines, & Story, 2006). Higher levels of body dissatisfaction have also been linked to depression (Stice, Hayward, Cameron, Killen, & Taylor, 2000), smoking (Neumark-Sztainer, , and unsafe sex practices (Schooler, 2012), with effect sizes ranging from small to moderate. The large number of young people affected, the relative stability of this issue over the past decade, and the wide range of deleterious consequences, indicate an urgent and continuing need to develop and evaluate effective body image interventions for adolescent girls and boys. School-based Body Image InterventionsSchools are widely recognized as appropriate sites for interventions to improve body image among adolescents. They offer the potential for sustained interactions with young people at a developmentally appropriate age, where they are already in a learning environment . School-based interventions also offer opportunities to support program materials with environmental changes (Neumark-Sztainer, Levine, et al., 2006), and a whole-school approach to health promotion (O'Dea & Maloney, 2000;Smolak, Levine, & S...

This study experimentally examined the impact of exposure to fitspiration images and self-compassion quotes on social media on young women's body satisfaction, body appreciation, self-compassion, and negative mood. Female undergraduate students (N=160) were randomly assigned to view either Instagram images of fitspiration, self-compassion quotes, a combination of both, or appearance-neutral images. Results showed no differences between viewing fitspiration images compared to viewing neutral images, except for poorer self-compassion among those who viewed fitspiration images. However, women who viewed self-compassion quotes showed greater body satisfaction, body appreciation, self-compassion, and reduced negative mood compared to women who viewed neutral images. Further, viewing a combination of fitspiration images and self-compassion quotes led to positive outcomes compared to viewing only fitspiration images. Trait levels of thin-ideal internalisation moderated some effects. The findings suggest that self-compassion might offer a novel avenue for attenuating the negative impact of social media on women's body satisfaction.

BackgroundWeight stigma is pervasive in Western society and in healthcare settings, and has a negative impact on victims’ psychological and physical health. In the context of an increasing focus on the management of overweight and obese women during and after pregnancy in research and clinical practice, the current studies aimed to examine the presence of weight stigma in maternity care. Addressing previous limitations in the weight stigma literature, this paper quantitatively explores the presence of weight stigma from both patient and care provider perspectives.MethodsStudy One investigated associations between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and experiences of maternity care from a state-wide, self-reported survey of 627 Australian women who gave birth in 2009. Study Two involved administration of an online survey to 248 Australian pre-service medical and maternity care providers, to investigate their perceptions of, and attitudes towards, providing care for pregnant patients of differing body sizes. Both studies used linear regression analyses.ResultsWomen with a higher BMI were more likely to report negative experiences of care during pregnancy and after birth, compared to lower weight women. Pre-service maternity care providers perceived overweight and obese women as having poorer self-management behaviours, and reported less positive attitudes towards caring for overweight or obese pregnant women, than normal-weight pregnant women. Even care providers who reported few weight stigmatising attitudes responded less positively to overweight and obese pregnant women.ConclusionsOverall, these results provide preliminary evidence that weight stigma is present in maternity care settings in Australia. They suggest a need for further research into the nature and consequences of weight stigma in maternity care, and for the inclusion of strategies to recognise and combat weight stigma in maternity care professionals’ training.

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Body dissatisfaction can be significantly detrimental to wellbeing. Little is known about older adults’ body image, despite the fact that ageing causes unique bodily changes and that sociocultural pressures to resist these changes abound. We conducted six focus groups with a UK community sample of White British and South Asian older adults aged 65–92 years. Thematic analysis highlighted four themes: appearance indicates capability and identity; physical ability trumps appearance; felt pressures to age ‘gracefully’ while resisting appearance changes; and gender and cultural differences. These findings suggest that older adults’ body image can have important implications for their wellbeing and merits researchers’ attention.

Results suggests that dissonance based programs can reduce body dissatisfaction, internalization and negative media effects among a younger group of girls than previously examined and in a United Kingdom school setting.

BackgroundResearch indicates that body dissatisfaction is correlated with and often predictive of both physical and mental health problems. “Fat talk,” a well-studied form of body image talk in adolescents and university-aged women, has been implicated as contributing to body dissatisfaction and mediating the relationship between body dissatisfaction and other mental health problems. Limited research, however, has investigated fat talk across the female lifespan. Further, consistent with most body image research, fat talk research solely focuses on the thin dimension of idealized female attractiveness, even though other dimensions may contribute to body dissatisfaction in women.MethodThe current study investigated whether or not “old talk,” a hereto un-described form of body image talk, appears to be a parallel, but distinct, form of body image talk that taps into the young dimension of the thin-young-ideal standard of female beauty. An international, internet sample of women (aged 18-87, N = 914) completed questionnaires aimed at assessing fat talk, old talk, body image disturbance, and eating disorder pathology.ResultsResults indicated that both fat talk and old talk were reported by women across the lifespan, although they evidenced different trajectories of frequency. Like fat talk, old talk was significantly correlated with body image disturbance and eating disorder pathology, albeit at a lower rate than fat talk in the total sample. Old talk was more highly correlated with ageing appearance anxiety than fat talk, and the correlation between old talk and body image disturbance and ED pathology increased with women’s ages.ConclusionResults suggest that old talk is a form of body image talk that is related to but distinct from fat talk. Old talk appears to be similarly problematic to fat talk for women whose age increases their deviation from the thin-young-ideal. Further research into the phenomenon of old talk is warranted as is increased attention to fat talk across the full lifespan of women.