Patel Tapan A, Cougle Jesse R
Department of Psychology, Florida State University.
J Consult Clin Psychol. 2024 Dec;92(12):788-799. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000920. Epub 2024 Oct 24.
Appearance concerns are a core feature of multiple psychiatric disorders (i.e., body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders, and social anxiety disorders). Individuals with these concerns commonly engage in appearance-related safety behaviors (ARSB), behaviors intended to avoid, prevent, or manage the negative evaluation of one's physical appearance. The present study evaluated a brief ARSB reduction intervention for appearance concerns.
Women with elevated appearance concerns ( = 203) were recruited from across the United States and randomized to receive one of two 1-month smartphone-based interventions targeting ARSBs or unhealthy behaviors (UHBs). Both consisted of daily text messages with links to behavior checklists and reminders to avoid the respective behaviors.
Participants in both treatments saw substantial reductions in symptoms. Though the UHB fading condition showed significantly better treatment adherence than ARSB fading, ARSB fading led to significantly lower appearance concerns (² = .028, = .014) and eating disorder symptoms (² = .024, = .020) at posttreatment, and lower appearance concerns (² = .041, = .004), eating disorder symptoms (² = .029, = .006), social anxiety (² = .048, = .005), and appearance importance at 1-month follow-up (² = .042, = .011), relative to UHB fading. Changes in ARSBs were found to partially mediate the effect of treatment on appearance concerns.
These preliminary findings provide novel evidence for the efficacy of targeting ARSBs and suggest that this text-based intervention may be an efficacious and accessible intervention for women with elevated appearance concerns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
对外表的担忧是多种精神疾病（即身体变形障碍、饮食失调和社交焦虑障碍）的核心特征。有这些担忧的个体通常会采取与外表相关的安全行为（ARSB），即旨在避免、预防或应对他人对自己外貌的负面评价的行为。本研究评估了一种针对外表担忧的简短的减少ARSB干预措施。
从美国各地招募了外表担忧程度较高的女性（n = 203），并将她们随机分为两组，接受为期1个月的基于智能手机的干预措施之一，干预措施针对ARSB或不健康行为（UHB）。两种干预措施都包括每日短信，短信带有行为检查表链接以及避免相应行为的提醒。
两种治疗方法的参与者症状均有显著减轻。尽管UHB消退组的治疗依从性显著优于ARSB消退组，但在治疗后，ARSB消退组的外表担忧程度（F² = .028，p = .014）和饮食失调症状（F² = .024，p = .020）显著更低，在1个月随访时，外表担忧程度（F² = .041，p = .004）、饮食失调症状（F² = .029，p = .006）、社交焦虑（F² = .048，p = .005）以及外表重要性方面（F² = .042，p = .011）也低于UHB消退组。发现ARSB的变化部分介导了治疗对外表担忧的影响。
这些初步发现为针对ARSB的有效性提供了新的证据，并表明这种基于文本的干预措施可能是一种对外表担忧程度较高的女性有效且易于获得的干预措施。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2024美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
