The Impact of a Podcast-based Body Image Intervention Among Millennial Women

Part of paid clinical trials in Chicago, Illinois.

Sponsor
University of the West of England
Study ID
NCT07113678
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Body Image

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
FEMALE
Age
29 Years - 44 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Body confidence podcast episode and supplementary exercises in a journal — BEHAVIORAL
    The 52-minute long podcast episode is hosted on the How to Fail podcast featuring a conversation between its host, Elizabeth Day, and the guest, actor and activist, Pamela Anderson ("It wasn't about being pretty, it was about being brave"). The podcast episode is accompanied by supplementary exercises in a journal to reinforce the body confidence messages shared during the episode. The 8-page journal ("Beauty on Your Own Terms") consists of two primary activities. The first activity ("A vision for your future") involves 3 questions, a 3-minute visualisation exercise, and a prompt for written reflection all intended to facilitate "accepting your body as it is, rejecting societal and media pressures that define beauty narrowly, and defining beauty on your own terms." The second activity ("Beauty-on-your-own-terms challenge") involves 4 exercises intended to help women reflect on what they can "change about your routine and habits to start defining beauty on your own terms".
  • Body confidence podcast episode — BEHAVIORAL
    The podcast episode is hosted on the How to Fail podcast featuring a conversation between its host, Elizabeth Day, and the guest, actor and activist, Pamela Anderson ("It wasn't about being pretty, it was about being brave").
  • Non-body image-related podcast episode — BEHAVIORAL
    A podcast episode from the same podcast series as the intervention, How to Fail, which contains no body image content and is matched on length and guest similarities. The episode features host Elizabeth Day in conversation with actor and activist Cynthia Nixon ("Being brave is feeling scared and doing it anyway"), which is 47 minutes in length.

Study Details

The goal of this three-arm randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the acceptability and efficacy of two podcast-based interventions -- a podcast with an accompanying journal and the same podcast without a journal -- which aim to improve body confidence among millennial-aged women (29-44 years of age) in the United Kingdom. A total of 1800 women in the UK (29-44 years), who are podcast listeners, will be recruited by a research agency. Participants will be randomised to one of three groups: body confidence podcast episode with journal; body confidence podcast episode alone; a non-body confidence-related podcast episode from the same series as the intervention podcast. The research aims are to determine the following: 1. Are the two versions of the intervention (i.e., podcast with and without a journal) effective in improving appearance esteem (primary outcome), internalisation of appearance ideals, self-objectification, and weight esteem among UK-based women (i) 1 day post-intervention and (ii) 1 week post-intervention, compared to a control podcast? 2. Are the two interventions (i.e., podcast with and without a journal) effective in generating immediate change in state body satisfaction and state mood, compared to a control podcast? 3. Are the two versions of the intervention acceptable to women?

Key Dates

Start date
Aug 19, 2025
Status verified
Aug 2025
Primary completion
Oct 30, 2025
Completion
Nov 15, 2025

Study Design

Enrollment
1,800 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION

Arms

  • Experimental: Body confidence podcast episode with supplementary exercises in a journal (Arm A)
    A podcast episode that addresses body image related content with an accompanying journal
  • Experimental: Podcast body confidence episode (Arm B)
    The same podcast episode used in Arm A, without supplementary exercises.
  • Active Comparator: Podcast episode unrelated to body image (Arm C)
    A podcast episode with no body image content

Primary Outcome Measure

Change in appearance esteem as measured by the Appearance subscale of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA) [ Time Frame: Baseline, post-intervention (1 day), 1-week follow-up ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
C+R Research Services, Inc.ChicagoIllinois60601
Jane Ott
312-828-9200
[email protected]

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By research site
C+R Research Services, Inc.· Chicago, IL

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