Do They Like My Post? A Three Arm Randomised Control Trial Investigating the Effect of Exposure to Body Positivity (Self-Love) Compared to Fitspiration Social Media Content on Female Adults’ Perceived Body Image.

Prior to the intervention, the participants will complete the pre-intervention questionnaire, assessing body comparison, thin internalisation, self-esteem, disordered eating symptoms, social media activity, photo investment and photo modification. The pre-intervention questionnaire will occur two weeks prior to the intervention as part of a screening assessment. The pre-intervention questionnaire takes approximately 15 to 20 -minutes. The intervention will occur at the University of Auckland (assigned Grafton or city room), where the researchers will greet the participants and briefly outline the intervention, addressing any questions or concerns the participants may have. The researchers are the primary investigator (a Clinical Health Psychologist and senior lecturer) and the student investigator (a Master of Health Psychology candidate). The researchers will randomise participants using an online 3 digit number generator, which will randomly allocate the numbers to one of three conditions (the fitspiration, self-love, or home and living condition). The researchers will measure all participants screen time (an objective measure of social media use) through participants accessing their screen time through logging in to their personal phone settings. The participants will then be given the baseline questionnaire (on an Ipad) or Qualtrics link (if over Zoom), assessing state self-esteem, state mood and body dissatisfaction. The baseline questionnaire will take 8 minutes to complete. Following the completion of the questionnaire, participants will then complete the social media feed. Participants in the fitspo condition will view a fitspo social media feed on Instagram using an iPad (or via screen share on Zoom). They will view the feed for 15-minutes by scrolling, reading and watching content. The 15-minutes will be timed using a stopwatch. The content viewed will consist of a range of fitspo quotes (i.e., on diet, exercise, reaching goals), workout images and videos of fitness models and celebrities, as well as women portraying 'fit' body ideals. Following the feed, the researchers will supply a document for the (timed) 5-minute writing task. The task will encourage participants to freely and truly express how they feel about their body right now. Following the task, the participants will then complete the second questionnaire (follow up questionnaire) on state mood, state self-esteem and body dissatisfaction (via a Qualtrics link), which will take 8 minutes. Participants in the self-love condition will view a self-love/ body positivity social media feed on Instagram using an iPad (or through screen share on Zoom). They will view the feed for 15-minutes by scrolling, reading and watching content. The 15-minutes will be timed using a stopwatch. The content viewed will consist of a range of self-love, self-compassion, self-care, body positivity quotes, body diversity, photos and videos. Following the feed, the researchers will supply a document for the (timed) 5-minute writing task. The task will encourage participants to freely and truly express how they feel about their body right now. Following the task, the participants will then complete the second questionnaire (follow up questionnaire) on state mood, state self-esteem and body dissatisfaction (via a Qualtrics link). Overall, the intervention is anticipated to take 40-minutes to complete. The pre-intervention questionnaire and the intervention (baseline and follow up survey, writing task, screen time measure, introduction and debrief) are anticipated to take 60 minutes.