AzTrials
AzTrials

InterventionNCT05594524

Coach-Led Body Image Intervention for Girls in Sport - RCT

A study testing Body Confident Athletes in people with Intervention and Waitlist Control, run by University of the West of England at 1 site in United Kingdom.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
Search all trials

Trial summary

According to the World Health Organization, only 15% of 11-17-year-old girls meet the recommended daily physical movement guidelines (e.g., 60 minutes per day). Despite extensive research highlighting the protective factors associated with sport on both mental and physical health, body image concerns are a key barrier… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 11 to 17 years, women onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Intervention, Waitlist Control
What is being tested?
Body Confident Athletes
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
568 participants
Where
1 siteUnited Kingdom
Study dates
16 Jan 2023to 7 May 2023
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 11 to 17 years
  • Women only
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child

Who may be able to join

  • Girls aged 11-17 years old
  • English speaking
  • Residing in the United States

Who cannot join

  • n/a

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United Kingdom1 site
  • Centre for Appearance Research, University of the West of England

    Bristol, BS16 1QY

Other trials in United Kingdom

About this study

Official title: Body Confident Athletes: A Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Efficacy of a Coach-Led Body Image Intervention for Adolescent Girls in Sport

According to the World Health Organization, only 15% of 11-17-year-old girls meet the recommended daily physical movement guidelines (e.g., 60 minutes per day). Despite extensive research highlighting the protective factors associated with sport on both mental and physical health, body image concerns are a key barrier to girls' participation in, and enjoyment of, sport. Sports-related environments and society more broadly further exacerbate these concerns through harmful gender stereotypes that perpetuate female objectification, discrimination, and harassment. This includes the promotion of unrealistic and sexualized appearances of female athletes, uncomfortable and objectifying uniforms, and appearance and competence-related teasing from male and female peers, as well as coaches.

The magnitude of this issue and how best to address it can be understood from a socioecological perspective. Researchers suggest developing multi-faceted and multi-tiered approaches that have scope for targeting the individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal levels. The current research will test the first coach-led body image program for girls in sport. The Body Confident Athletes program was co-created with girls and coaches through an international multi-disciplinary partnership between academics, health professionals, industry, and community organizations. Multi-disciplinary partnerships can create a supportive landscape by upskilling girls and influential community members (e.g., coaches) in dealing with body image concerns, which will likely lead to sustained sports participation and biopsychosocial benefits.

Read more

As such, the aim of the present study is to conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Body Confident Athletes program. The program consists of three 60-minute sessions delivered by coaches to adolescent girls. Each session tackles a distinct theme related to body image in the sport context. Outcomes will be assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention (three weeks later), and follow-up (at one and three months). Outcomes will include body image and sport enjoyment (primary outcomes); body appreciation, attuned self-care, resisting objectification, and positive and negative affect (secondary outcomes); and intervention acceptability, fidelity, and adherence (process outcomes). The comparison control arm will be a waitlist control condition.

To undertake this project, sports organizations will be cluster-randomized into the intervention group or the control group, with 800 girls anticipated in each arm. Those in the intervention condition will complete baseline assessments (target outcomes and demographic information), take part in the three-week intervention, and then complete the post-intervention and follow-up assessments (target and process outcomes). Those in the waitlist control condition will complete the baseline assessments (target outcomes and demographic information), a second assessment three weeks later (target outcomes only), and follow-up assessments after one and three months, after which they will get access to the intervention. However, their engagement with the intervention will not be monitored or assessed. At completion of the post-intervention survey, all participants will receive a debrief form, outlining the study aims and objectives, and support resources for body image and eating concerns.

The investigators hypothesize that girls who take part in the Body Confident Athletes intervention will report higher levels of body esteem, sport enjoyment, body appreciation, attuned self-care, resisting objectification, and positive affect and lower levels of negative affect at post-intervention and follow-up, compared to girls who do not take part in the intervention.

Note: This research has been approved by the University of the West of England Research Ethics Committee (ref no. HAS.21.03.120) and the University of Minnesota Institutional Review Board (ref no. STUDY00012457).

Being tested
Body Confident Athletes
Keywords
Body image, Embodiment, Girls, Athletes, Coaches, Task shifting

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Body Confident AthletesBehavioural

    The Body Confident Athletes program is a three-session in-person program designed to be delivered by coaches to their athletes. Groups should be of approximately 10-20 girls. The sports organizations will work with the community partner and researchers on how to schedule the intervention over a three-week period. These sessions can replace a regular sport practice each week or an additional session can be organized by the sports organization. Each session will take approximately 60 minutes and will consist of four phases, including The Game Plan (5 mins), The Knowledge (20 mins), The Skills (20 mins), and The Final Score (15 mins). A variety of activity modalities will be utilized to convey learning outcomes, including group and individual activities and discussion-, writing-, and movement-based activities.

Study groups in NCT05594524
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Body Confident AthletesExperimentalParticipants in the intervention condition will take part in an in-person program consisting of three sessions over three weeks.
Receives: Behavioral: Body Confident Athletes
Waitlist controlNo interventionParticipants will not be explicitly told their study condition, although they will be made aware of the assessment time points and whether they will receive access to the intervention after the first survey (intervention group) or after follow-up assessments (waitlist control group). Following completion of follow-up assessments, the control condition will get access to the intervention, but they will not be monitored or assessed.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Change in body esteem (assessed via the Body Esteem Scale for Adults and Adolescents)

    The Body Esteem Scale for Adults and Adolescents (BESAA) assesses body esteem (BE), which refers to self-evaluations of one's body or appearance. The BESAA has 3 subscales: BE-Appearance (general feelings about appearance), BE-Weight (weight satisfaction), and BE-Attribution (evaluations attributed to others about one's body and appearance). For the purposes of this study, only the BE-Appearance and BE-Weight subscales will be utilized. BESAA scores range from 0-4 with higher scores on the BESAA indicating higher levels of body esteem.

    Measured: Baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention (3 weeks later); 1 month after completion of the intervention; 3 months after completion of the intervention

  2. Change in sport enjoyment (assessed via the Sources of Enjoyment in Youth Sport Questionnaire)

    The Sources of Enjoyment in Youth Sport Questionnaire (SEYSQ) assesses the source of an athlete's enjoyment in sport according to two spectrums (intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic motivation and achievement vs. non-achievement factors), resulting in four quadrants indicating the four sources of an athlete's enjoyment. SEYSQ scores range from 1-5.

    Measured: Baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention (3 weeks later); 1 month after completion of the intervention; 3 months after completion of the intervention

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. Change in body appreciation (assessed via the Body Appreciation Scale-2)

    The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) assesses body appreciation. Body appreciation has been associated positively with adaptive characteristics and negatively with maladaptive characteristics among samples of women and men from Western countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. BAS-2 scores range from 1-5 with higher scores on the BAS-2 indicating higher levels of body appreciation.

    Measured: Baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention (3 weeks later); 1 month after completion of the intervention; 3 months after completion of the intervention

  2. Change in attuned self-care (assessed via the Youth Experience of Embodiment Scale - Attuned Self-Care subscale)

    The Youth Experience of Embodiment Scale (YEES) assesses how girls inhabit their body (e.g., body connection and comfort, attuned self-care) and how they navigate the world (e.g., with agency, resisting self-objectification). Attuned self-care specifically reflects the degree of attunement and responsiveness to the embodied self and its physical, emotional, relational, aspirational, and spiritual needs. YEES scores range from 1-5 with higher scores on the YEES indicating higher levels of embodiment.

    Measured: Baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention (3 weeks later); 1 month after completion of the intervention; 3 months after completion of the intervention

  3. Change in resisting objectification (assessed via the Youth Experience of Embodiment Scale - Resisting Objectification subscale)

    The Youth Experience of Embodiment Scale (YEES) assesses how girls inhabit their body (e.g., body connection and comfort, attuned self-care) and how they navigate the world (e.g., with agency, resisting self-objectification). Resisting objectification specifically refers to inhabiting the body as a subjective site (vs. as an objectified site); i.e., the immersion in subjectively perceived embodied experiences and meaningful pursuits, and resistance to inhabiting the body as an object of gaze. YEES scores range from 1-5 with higher scores on the YEES indicating higher levels of embodiment.

    Measured: Baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention (3 weeks later); 1 month after completion of the intervention; 3 months after completion of the intervention

  4. Change in positive and negative affect (assessed via the 10-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children)

    The 10-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) is a self-report questionnaire that consists of two 5-item scales to measure positive and negative affect. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale of 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (extremely). Higher levels on the positive and negative affect scales indicate higher levels of positive and negative affect, respectively.

    Measured: Baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention (3 weeks later); 1 month after completion of the intervention; 3 months after completion of the intervention

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted26 Oct 2022
  2. Study start16 Jan 2023
  3. Primary completion7 May 2023
  4. Study completion7 May 2023

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Triple blind
Who is masked
Participant, Care provider, Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
568 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT05594524
Sponsor's protocol ID
HAS.21.03.120c
Status last verified
Jun 2025
First submitted
12 Oct 2022
Last updated
10 Jun 2025
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Guthold R, Stevens GA, Riley LM, Bull FC. Global trends in insufficient physical activity among adolescents: a pooled analysis of 298 population-based surveys with 1.6 million participants. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020 Jan;4(1):23-35. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30323-2. Epub 2019 Nov 21.

    PubMed 31761562
  • Neumark-Sztainer D, MacLehose RF, Watts AW, Pacanowski CR, Eisenberg ME. Yoga and body image: Findings from a large population-based study of young adults. Body Image. 2018 Mar;24:69-75. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.12.003. Epub 2017 Dec 27.

    PubMed 29288970
  • Sabiston, C., Pila, E., Vani, M., & Thogersen-Ntoumani, C. (2019). Body image, physical activity, and sport: A scoping review. Psychology Of Sport And Exercise, 42, 48-57. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.12.010

  • Sabiston, C. M., Vani, M. F., & Murray, R. M. (2021). Body-related self-conscious emotions in sport and exercise: A self-regulation perspective. In Motivation and Self-regulation in Sport and Exercise (pp. 62-77). Routledge.

  • Slater A, Tiggemann M. Gender differences in adolescent sport participation, teasing, self-objectification and body image concerns. J Adolesc. 2011 Jun;34(3):455-63. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2010.06.007. Epub 2010 Jul 31.

    PubMed 20643477
  • Vani MF, Pila E, Willson E, Sabiston CM. Body-related embarrassment: The overlooked self-conscious emotion. Body Image. 2020 Mar;32:14-23. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.10.007. Epub 2019 Nov 13.

    PubMed 31733410
  • Matheson EL, Schneider J, Tinoco A, White P, Toher D, LaVoi NM, Diedrichs PC. A randomized controlled trial of a body image intervention for girl athletes. Health Psychol. 2025 Dec;44(12):1127-1138. doi: 10.1037/hea0001522. Epub 2025 Jun 2.

    PubMed 40455543
  • Matheson EL, Schneider J, Tinoco A, Gentili C, Silva-Breen H, LaVoi NM, White P, Diedrichs PC. The co-creation, initial piloting, and protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial of a coach-led positive body image intervention for girls in sport. BMC Public Health. 2023 Jul 31;23(1):1467. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16360-w.

    PubMed 37525161

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Body Confident Athletes in people with Intervention and Waitlist Control, run by University of the West of England at 1 site in United Kingdom.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 10 Jun 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United Kingdom. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Change in body esteem (assessed via the Body Esteem Scale for Adults and Adolescents) (time frame: Baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention (3 weeks later); 1 month after completion of the intervention; 3 months after completion of the intervention). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05594524, which also lists 8 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 10 Jun 2025.

Free account

Log in to keep searching

You’ve used your 3 free searches. AzTrials is free: log in or create a free account to keep searching clinical trials and save the ones you want to follow.

Create a free accountLog in