Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Body Image. 2022 Sep;42:385-400. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.07.001. Epub 2022 Aug 2.
Self-compassion involves reflecting on shared human experiences, expressing self-kindness, and responding to feelings in a kind and non-judgmental way. Self-compassion interventions seem to be effective for women's body dissatisfaction, however, such interventions have not been trialed with men, including sexual minority men, who are particularly vulnerable. We conducted a randomized controlled trial of a brief self-compassion intervention designed to reduce body dissatisfaction among sexual minority men (N = 605). We used a 3 (condition: self-compassion, self-esteem, and a benign recollection control) × 5 (time) repeated measures design, whereby participants completed a brief writing task and completed body image measures at multiple time-points. Participants in both the self-compassion and self-esteem conditions showed improved body image and self-compassion following the intervention whereas participants in the control condition did not. Increases in self-compassion mediated body image measures for participants in the self-compassion but not self-esteem or control conditions. Participants in the self-compassion condition also showed increased self-compassion at three-weeks follow-up. While several caveats to our results were noted, our overall interpretation is that self-compassion and self-esteem interventions might be effective for sexual minority men's body image, and more research is necessary. The challenge of inculcating a self-compassionate mindset among men is also discussed.
自我同情涉及反思共同的人类经验、表达自我友善，并以友善和非评判的方式回应感受。自我同情干预似乎对女性的身体不满有效，但这些干预措施尚未在男性中进行试验，包括性少数男性，他们特别脆弱。我们对一项简短的自我同情干预措施进行了随机对照试验，旨在减少性少数男性的身体不满（N=605）。我们使用了 3（条件：自我同情、自尊和良性回忆控制）×5（时间）重复测量设计，参与者完成了简短的写作任务，并在多个时间点完成了身体形象测量。自我同情和自尊条件下的参与者在干预后身体形象和自我同情都有所改善，而对照组的参与者则没有。自我同情条件下参与者的自我同情增加了身体形象测量，而自我同情和控制条件下的参与者则没有。自我同情条件下的参与者在三周后的随访中也表现出了更高的自我同情。虽然我们的研究结果存在一些注意事项，但我们的总体解释是，自我同情和自尊干预措施可能对性少数男性的身体形象有效，需要进一步研究。还讨论了在男性中培养自我同情心态的挑战。
