3 - (SYM 70) A Data-driven Approach to Creating a Single-session Eating Disorder Prevention Program for Parents of Young Children

Body image concerns have been linked longitudinally to mental health issues, including disordered eating. Body image and weight concerns can emerge as early as between the ages of three to nine; however, few parent-focused interventions aim to prevent body image and weight concerns in young children. This study seeks to establish the acceptability and feasibility of a single-session parent training intervention targeting early risk factors for eating disorders. Development of the intervention is data-driven and informed by a needs assessment of parents of young children as well as existing evidence-based materials, primarily the Embrace Kids Body Blocks workshop. The intervention consists of four modules containing information, brief exercises, and reflections related to Body Image Development, Food Talk, Mealtime and Picky Eating, and Media Usage and Social Comparison. In the needs assessment, parents rated “weight and appearance” as the factor that they consider least when choosing media for their child; this informs the creation of the Media Usage and Social Comparison module. 69.2 % of parents indicated interest in learning about how to handle conversations about health, weight, shape, appearance, and attractiveness with their child, and 62.6 % of parents indicated interest in learning about handling conversations pertaining to picky eating and mealtime, justifying the creation of the Body Image Development, Food Talk, and Mealtime and Picky Eating modules. Furthermore, parents also indicated interest predominantly in a single-session, modular, and online intervention. As a next step in this work, parents (10 mothers, 10 fathers) of two- to six-year-olds residing in the U.S. will be randomized to work through one of four modules of the intervention. They will then be asked detailed short answer questions pertaining to their interest in and understanding of the intervention (e.g., How clear did you find the module content to be? Are there any areas of the module content that were not clear?). Finally, they will complete the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire 7 (EDEQ-7) and modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS-M) for themselves and the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) and PARDI-AR-Q, a measure of symptoms of avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, for their child. Focus group accessibility and feasibility feedback will be collected in May and June and will lay the foundation for future studies examining intervention efficacy and broad dissemination into community and primary care settings.