Expand Your Horizon: A programme that improves body image and reduces self-objectification by training women to focus on body functionality

Abstract

This study tested Expand Your Horizon, a programme designed to improve body image by training women to focus on the functionality of their body using structured writing assignments. Eighty-one women (Mage=22.77) with a negative body image were randomised to the Expand Your Horizon programme or to an active control programme. Appearance satisfaction, functionality satisfaction, body appreciation, and self-objectification were measured at pretest, posttest, and one-week follow-up. Following the intervention, participants in the Expand Your Horizon programme experienced greater appearance satisfaction, functionality satisfaction, and body appreciation, and lower levels of self-objectification, compared to participants in the control programme. Partial eta-squared effect sizes were of small to medium magnitude. This study is the first to show that focusing on body functionality can improve body image and reduce self-objectification in women with a negative body image. These findings provide support for addressing body functionality in programmes designed to improve body image.

Bodies in nature: Associations between exposure to nature, connectedness to nature, and body image in U.S. adults

“…Greater immersion in nature may also promote embodying experiences, through which individuals develop a sense of ownership over their physical selves, develop greater respect for their bodies (particularly in terms of functionality, that is, a focus on what the body can do; see Alleva, Martijn, van Breukelen, Jansen, & Karos, 2015), and promote a sense of empowerment that is characteristic of body appreciation.…”

“…The online recruitment method in the present work may have also introduced Nature and Body Image 22 unforeseen sampling biases that may have affected our results. Future research would also do well to examine associations between nature-related variables and a broader range of body image constructs, such as body functionality (Alleva et al, 2015), body image flexibility (Sandoz, Wilson, Merwin, & Kellum, 2012), broad conceptualisations of beauty (Tylka & Iannantuono, 2016), and other measures of positive body image, such as body pride and body acceptance (for a review, see Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015a). In a similar vein, it may be useful to examine the utility of self-compassion (Neff, 2003) as a mediator of the relationships between nature-related variables and body appreciation, particularly as selfcompassion may be more likely to evoke feelings of commonality with nature compared to ego-syntonic self-esteem.…”

A pilot study investigating whether focusing on body functionality can protect women from the potential negative effects of viewing thin-ideal media images

“…Body functionality encompasses everything that the body is capable of doing -rather than how it looks -and includes functions related to physical capacities (e.g., walking), health (e.g., digestion), senses (e.g., sight), creative endeavours (e.g., dancing), communication (e.g., body language), and self-care (e.g., showering; Alleva, Martijn, Van Breukelen, Jansen, & Karos, 2015). Alleva et al (2015) have shown that a oneweek intervention training women with a negative body image to focus on their body functionality (using three structured writing assignments) led to improvements in body satisfaction and reductions in self-objectification, as well as to improvements in body appreciation, an "unconditional approval and respect for the body" (Avalos & Tylka, 2006;p. 486).…”

“…486). Alleva et al (2015) proposed that focusing on body functionality may improve body satisfaction by encouraging women to positively "reframe" how they view their body, from a potentially negative (appearance-focused) orientation to a positive (functionality-focused) orientation. Focusing on body functionality may reduce self-objectification because a functionality-based focus on the body is "antithetical" to self-objectification (Roberts & Waters, 2004) -it entails viewing the body as active and instrumental, rather than passive and aesthetic (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997).…”

“…Although Alleva et al (2015) demonstrated that focusing on body functionality can improve body image and reduce levels of self-objectification, they did not investigate how such a focus could impact women's responses to thin-ideal media imagery. Therefore, the aim of this pilot study was to explore whether focusing on body functionality can also be FUNCTIONALITY FOCUS AND THE THIN IDEAL 5 beneficial for protecting women from the potential harmful effects of thin-ideal media images.…”