STANFORD RESEARCH PROJECT

In 2014, The Body Positive partnered with researchers at Stanford University, including Kristen Lohse (Psy.D. Student), Megan Jones, Psy.D., and Athena Robinson, Ph.D., to conduct a pilot study evaluating the preliminary efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of our college leadership program. This pilot study demonstrated a positive effect on participants' self-reported guilt, beliefs of thin ideal, body satisfaction, and social determinants of body image, from baseline to the end of the groups. Qualitative findings indicate that members felt the groups were a positive source of community. Members also expressed appreciation around conversations on intuitive exercise, vulnerability, and challenging the thin ideal. Final results will be published later this year.

Stanford undergraduate students involved in the research project were eager to keep up their work as Body Positive leaders so they recently developed a student organization whose mission is to “promote awareness and education to transform Stanford’s culture surrounding beauty, body image, and eating issues. We seek to create an open and safe community where students can discuss, learn about, and receive peer support for eating and body image issues.” We will be training them, along with new Stanford student leaders, this fall.

Read our interview in Scope, an award-winning blog published by the Stanford School of Medicine.