The association between program credibility, expectancy, and acceptability with baseline pathology and outcome for a body acceptance prevention program

Objective: The current study sought to investigate whether credibility, expectancy, and acceptability of the Body Project is impacted by level of disordered eating pathology and whether perceived credibility, expectancy, and acceptability impacts treatment outcomes. Methods: The sample included 170 undergraduate women from a large public university. Participants completed self-report questionnaires on perceived credibility, expectancy, treatment acceptability, and disordered eating measures. A random subset of 51 participants provided 3-month follow-up measurements. Results: Analyses revealed that post-prevention credibility, expectancy, and treatment acceptability scores were negatively associated with baseline thin-ideal internalization, baseline weight, and shape concerns, and positively associated with baseline body satisfaction and the baseline restraint subscale of the EDEQ. Perceived credibility, expectancy, and treatment acceptability were not associated with session attendance or 3-month follow-up disordered eating scores. Discussion: The Body Project is effective at reducing disordered eating regardless of whether participants liked the program or not.