Centre for Appearance Research, Department of Health and Social Sciences, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY, UK.
Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Southeast of Minas Gerais, 204 Monsenhor José Augusto, Barbacena, 36205018, Brazil.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Nov 20;21(1):2135. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12129-1.
Body image concerns are prevalent among Brazilian adolescents and can lead to poor psychological and physical health. Yet, there is a scarcity of culturally-appropriate, evidence-based interventions that have been evaluated and made widely available. Chatbot technology (i.e., software that mimics written or spoken human speech) offers an innovative method to increase the scalability of mental health interventions for adolescents. The present protocol outlines the co-creation and evaluation of a body image chatbot for Brazilian adolescents via a partnership between academics, industry organisations and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
A two-armed fully remote randomised controlled trial will evaluate the chatbot's effectiveness at improving body image and well-being. Adolescent girls and boys (N = 2800) aged 13-18 years recruited online will be randomly allocated (1:1) into either: 1) a body image chatbot or 2) an assessment-only control condition. Adolescents will engage with the chatbot over a 72-hour period on Facebook Messenger. Primary outcomes will assess the immediate and short-term impact of the chatbot on state- and trait-based body image, respectively. Secondary outcomes will include state- and trait-based affect, trait self-efficacy and treatment adherence.
This research is the first to develop an evidence-informed body image chatbot for Brazilian adolescents, with the proposed efficacy trial aiming to provide support for accessible, scalable and cost-effective interventions that address disparities in body image prevalence and readily available resources.
NCT04825184 , registered 30th March 2021.
巴西青少年普遍存在身体意象问题，这可能导致他们的心理健康和身体健康状况不佳。然而，目前缺乏经过评估并广泛应用的、适合文化背景的循证干预措施。聊天机器人技术（即模仿书面或口头人类语言的软件）为增加青少年心理健康干预措施的可扩展性提供了一种创新方法。本方案概述了通过学术界、行业组织和联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）之间的合作，共同开发和评估一种针对巴西青少年的身体意象聊天机器人。
一项为期 72 小时的完全远程随机对照试验将评估该聊天机器人在改善身体意象和幸福感方面的有效性。通过在线招募，年龄在 13-18 岁的青少年女孩和男孩（N=2800）将被随机分配（1:1）到以下两组之一：1）身体意象聊天机器人组或 2）仅评估对照组。青少年将在 Facebook Messenger 上与聊天机器人进行互动。主要结果将分别评估聊天机器人对状态和特质身体意象的即时和短期影响。次要结果将包括状态和特质情绪、特质自我效能感和治疗依从性。
这项研究是首次为巴西青少年开发基于证据的身体意象聊天机器人，拟进行的疗效试验旨在为解决身体意象流行率和现有资源方面的差异提供可行、可扩展且具有成本效益的干预措施提供支持。
NCT04825184，于 2021 年 3 月 30 日注册。
