(PS1-53) Loneliness Predicts Symptom Outcomes Following a Digital Intervention for Appearance Concerns

Abstract Text: Digital mental health interventions have proliferated in the past decade, though it is not
clear whether social isolation or loneliness influences their efficacy. The present study
sought to determine if loneliness predicted symptom outcomes following a digital
treatment for appearance concerns. Women elevated in appearance concerns (N =
203) were randomized to one of two interventions where participants were either
instructed to reduce appearance related safety behaviors (ARSB; i.e., actions people
take to reduce appearance anxiety) or general unhealthy behaviors. Both treatments
led to similar reductions in loneliness. However, we found that baseline loneliness
moderated the effect of condition on social anxiety such that, at low levels of
loneliness, ARSB reduction led to lower social anxiety than control though these effects
were absent at high levels of loneliness. We also found that, in the ARSB treatment
condition (but not the control condition), pre-treatment loneliness predicted symptoms
of social anxiety at posttreatment and predicted social anxiety, eating disorder
symptoms, and depression at follow-up. Taken together, loneliness appears to play an
important role in the efficacy of this digital intervention, findings which may have
implications for the broader digital treatment literature.