Previous research supports an association between specific aspects of social media use and increased eating pathology in correlational designs and that specific aspects of social media use cause increases in risk factors for eating disorders. The aim of the current project is to determine whether social media use can be altered to cause decreases in eating disorder risk factors. To accomplish this, college women will be recruited to participate in an open trial of a pilot program that adapts activities used within evidence-based eating disorder prevention programs to be used on social media platforms. The intervention is designed to target internalization of the thin ideal.
The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary evidence of potential efficacy of a social-media based intervention to reduce risk factors for eating disorders in college women.