A Novel, Scalable Social Media–Based Intervention (“Warna-Warni Waktu”) to Reduce Body Dissatisfaction Among Young Indonesian Women: Protocol for a Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Despite the prevalence of body dissatisfaction among young Indonesian women and its consequential negative impacts, there are currently no evidence-based, culturally appropriate interventions to tackle this issue. Therefore, there is a need to develop scalable, cost-effective, and accessible interventions to improve body image among this population. OBJECTIVE This paper describes the study protocol of a parallel randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Warna-Warni Waktu, a social media-based intervention that aims to reduce state and trait body dissatisfaction and improve mood among young Indonesian women aged 15-19 years. METHODS The trial will take place online. Approximately 1800 young women from nine cities in Indonesia, evenly split across the ages of 15-19 years, will be recruited via a local research agency’s established research panel. Participants will be randomly allocated to the intervention condition or a waitlist control condition. The intervention consists of six 5-minute videos, with each video supplemented with up to five brief, interactive activities. The videos (and associated activities) will be delivered at a rate of one per day, across six days. All participants will complete self-report assessments at baseline, and one day and one month following the intervention. The primary outcome will be change in trait body dissatisfaction. Secondary outcomes include change in internalization of appearance ideals, trait mood, appearance-related life disengagement, and skin shade satisfaction. Intervention effectiveness on these outcomes will be analyzed using linear mixed models by a statistician blinded to the randomized condition. Intervention participants will also complete state measures of body satisfaction and mood before and after watching each video to assess the immediate impact of each video. This secondary analysis of state measures will be conducted within-group. RESULTS Recruitment will begin in September 2021, with baseline assessments underway shortly thereafter. The results of the study are expected to be submitted for publication in 2022. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study to evaluate an eHealth intervention aimed at reducing body dissatisfaction among young Indonesian women. If effective, the intervention will be disseminated to over half a million young women in Indonesia via Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05023213; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05023213