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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12625000304437
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
4/04/2025
Date registered
16/04/2025
Date last updated
16/04/2025
Date data sharing statement initially provided
16/04/2025
Type of registration
Retrospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
Evaluating a Brief Parenting Masterclass on Parents Knowledge, Awareness and Competency to Promote Positive Body Image in Children
Scientific title
Evaluating a Brief Parenting Masterclass on Parents Knowledge, Awareness and Competency to Promote Positive Body Image in Children
Secondary ID [1] 314116 0
None
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
Trial acronym
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Mental Health 336915 0
Body Dissatisfaction 336917 0
Eating Disorders 336918 0
Condition category
Condition code
Mental Health 333384 333384 0 0
Eating disorders

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Interventional
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
The Embrace Parent Masterclass is a micro-intervention (5-minute online video) that presents strategies for parents aimed at promoting positive body image and healthy eating behaviours in children. The intervention was developed by body image expert Dr Zali Yager, and was based on key findings from a Delphi study focused on prevention guidelines for parents and researchers (Hart et al., 2014). The key messages from the masterclass include: (1) understanding body image; (2) raising awareness of language and negative body talk; (3) focusing on body functionality; (4) celebrating diversity/embracing different bodies; (5) not labelling food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’; (6) social media literacy; (7) strategies for addressing negative body talk in children; and (8) complimenting children beyond their appearance. The masterclass is delivered by an Australia comedian and father of two, Nazeem Hussain, who delivers the key messages in an engaging, fun and concise way and is freely available to Australian audiences through the Embrace Hub website (https://theembracehub.com). Masterclass messages are delivered verbally and are accompanied by animations throughout the video. To monitor engagement with the intervention material, participants were asked a qualitative questions about the video content, such as: 'In a few short sentences, please describe the key takeaway messages from the parent video you have just watched.' Additionally, one attention check question was included to assess whether participants had engaged with the content. No website analytics or tracking tools were used to monitor viewing.
Intervention code [1] 330693 0
Prevention
Comparator / control treatment
In the active control condition, parents viewed a short, animated cartoon titled “Shark Music” part of the Circle of Security parenting program. This 5-minute video, freely available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYy4iLtTwxk), introduces core themes of the Circle of Security model through a relatable and engaging metaphor. “Shark Music” illustrates how parents’ internal anxieties can unintentionally affect their responses to their children, creating a barrier to connection. In the animation, rather than depicting real people, the use of cartoon visuals allows viewers to engage with these ideas more universally. The key message encourages parents to recognise and manage their own emotional responses, promoting a secure, supportive environment for their child. There was no focus on appearance-related messages. As such, the video was considered an appropriate control given its focus on parenting practices.
Control group
Active

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 340954 0
Body image knowledge
Assessment method [1] 340954 0
Seven items from the original 11-item Knowledge Test for Body Image and Eating patterns in Childhood (Knowledge Test BEC; Damiano et al., 2015) were used to assess parents’ knowledge at baseline and follow-up. Items specific to eating disorders removed. Items are rated on a 4-point rating scale ranging from 1 (false) to 4 (true), with higher scores indicating higher levels of body image and eating pattern knowledge. The Knowledge Test BEC has been previously validated with parents of children aged 2-6, demonstrating good discriminant validity and test-retest reliability (Damiano et al., 2015). In the present study, the 7-items were used to create a total knowledge score. The internal consistency for the 7-items was Alpha = .62.
Timepoint [1] 340954 0
Prior to watching the assigned video and immediately after watching the assigned video
Primary outcome [2] 340955 0
Competence and Awareness of positive body image
Assessment method [2] 340955 0
To assess our primary outcome, parents’ competence and awareness of positive body image, a 10-item scale was developed for the current study based on the learning outcomes from the Embrace Parent Masterclass. The scale assesses awareness (5-items) and competence (5-items) across five key domains: focusing on body functionality, neutral food talk, and the avoidance of negative body talk, diet talk and appearance-based comments. All items were rated on a visual analogue scale from 0 (not at all) to 100 (very much), with higher scores indicating higher awareness and competency. An example awareness item is: “Right now, I am aware whether I should talk about appearance around my child/ren”, with the relevant competency item being: “Right now, I know how to respond when I hear negative body talk around my child/ren”. An additional eight items were developed to align with learning from the Circle of Security active control video and assess parents’ self-perception of current awareness and competency to their responses to their child/ren’s difficult feelings. An example awareness item is: “Right now, I am aware of my child’s difficult feelings”, with a competency item being: “Right now, I am able to confidently support my child through difficult emotions”. Both awareness, competency and items relating to the Circle of Security active control were assessed as a composite primary outcome.
Timepoint [2] 340955 0
Prior to watching the assigned video and immediately after watching the assigned video
Secondary outcome [1] 445600 0
Behavioural intentions
Assessment method [1] 445600 0
Seven items were developed for the present study to assess parents' intentions at follow-up regarding the implementation of strategies discussed in the Embrace Parent Masterclass. All items were rated on a visual analogue scale from 0 (not at all) to 100 (very much), with higher scores indicating higher intentions. An example item includes: “I intend to create a home environment where children are not allowed to tease each other about their body weight/shape”. Two items were developed to assess behavioural intentions in relation to learning outcomes from the active control video, which included the item: “I intend to support my child through difficult feelings by co-regulating” and “I intend to build positive connections with my child”. Both items assessing behavioural intentions for the Embrace Parent Masterclass and the control video were assessed together as a composite secondary outcome.
Timepoint [1] 445600 0
Immediately after watching the assigned video
Secondary outcome [2] 445601 0
Parenting self-efficacy
Assessment method [2] 445601 0
Parenting self-efficacy was assessed at follow-up using the Brief Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (BPSES; Woolgar et al., 2023), which consists of 5-items surveying parents’ belief in their ability to perform their parenting role successfully. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), higher scores indicate higher levels of parenting self-efficacy. The BPSES has been validated in a sample of parents attending parenting interventions for primary school aged children and demonstrated good internal consistency, content validity, configural measurement invariance and test-retest reliability (Woolgar et al., 2023).
Timepoint [2] 445601 0
Immediately after watching the assigned video
Secondary outcome [3] 445602 0
Disordered eating behaviours
Assessment method [3] 445602 0
The global score of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire – 7 (EDE-Q7; Grilo et al., 2015) was used to assess eating disorder psychopathology over the previous 28 days using 7 items on a 7-point Likert scale (Grilo et al., 2015). An Example item includes: “I have been deliberately trying to limit the amount of food I eat to influence my shape or weight”. The EDE-Q7 has demonstrated robust fit using confirmatory factor analysis, good internal consistency, correlations with other measures of eating disorder psychopathology, correlations with the original EDE-Q and other modified versions, and measurement invariance by sex, self-identified gender, and overweight status (Grilo et al., 2015; Machado et al., 2020). The EDE-Q7 global was scored by summing and averaging the 7 items, with higher scores indicating greater eating disorder psychopathology (Grilo et al., 2015).
Timepoint [3] 445602 0
Immediately after watching the assigned video

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
Eligibility criteria included: (1) residing in Australia; and (2) having at least one child aged 18 or under.
Minimum age
18 Years
Maximum age
No limit
Sex
Both males and females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
Yes
Key exclusion criteria
Nil.

Study design
Purpose of the study
Prevention
Allocation to intervention
Randomised controlled trial
Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)
Allocation was not concealed
Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)
The present study was a randomised controlled trial with parents randomised (1:1 ratio) to either an intervention or active control condition via the Qualtrics survey platform.
Masking / blinding
Blinded (masking used)
Who is / are masked / blinded?
The people receiving the treatment/s


Intervention assignment
Parallel
Other design features
Phase
Not Applicable
Type of endpoint/s
Safety/efficacy
Statistical methods / analysis
All quantitative data analyses were conducted using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 28 (IBM Corp, 2024). Means and standard deviations of all study variables were examined. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to examine any baseline differences between the Embrace Parent Masterclass group and the active control group. To assess the effects of intervention group on our primary outcomes (knowledge, awareness and competency), two-way univariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were conducted for each variable, covarying for the relevant knowledge, awareness or competency baseline score.
Moderated regression analyses were used to evaluate the potential moderating effects of eating disorder symptoms and parental self-efficacy on our primary outcome variables (knowledge, awareness and competency). Hierarchical Regression Analyses were conducted whilst covarying for baseline scores (entered in Step 1), condition (coded as: 0 = control; 1 = intervention) and moderator variable scores were entered at Step 2 and interaction terms (Condition x Moderator) were entered at Step 3. Continuous moderator variables (eating disorder symptoms and parental self-efficacy) were mean centred prior to creating the interaction terms to reduce multicollinearity and improve interpretability of the results (West et al., 1991). The significance of the R-squared change value at Step 3 was used to determine the presence of significant moderation effects.

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Completed
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
Actual
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
Actual
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
Actual
Sample size
Target
Accrual to date
Final
Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)
ACT,NSW,NT,QLD,SA,TAS,WA,VIC

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 318623 0
Government body
Name [1] 318623 0
The Australian Federal Government Department of Health and Aged Care
Country [1] 318623 0
Australia
Primary sponsor type
Charities/Societies/Foundations
Name
The Embrace Collective
Country
Australia
Secondary sponsor category [1] 321035 0
University
Name [1] 321035 0
Flinders University
Country [1] 321035 0
Australia

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
Ethics committee name [1] 317226 0
Flinders University Human Research Ethics Committee
Ethics committee address [1] 317226 0
Ethics committee country [1] 317226 0
Australia
Date submitted for ethics approval [1] 317226 0
13/09/2024
Approval date [1] 317226 0
01/10/2024
Ethics approval number [1] 317226 0
HREC7698

Summary
Brief summary
Trial website
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 140406 0
Prof Ivanka Prichard
Address 140406 0
Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042
Country 140406 0
Australia
Phone 140406 0
+61 8 82013713
Email 140406 0
ivanka.prichard@flinders.edu.au
Contact person for public queries
Name 140407 0
Ivanka Prichard
Address 140407 0
Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042
Country 140407 0
Australia
Phone 140407 0
+61 8 82013713
Email 140407 0
ivanka.prichard@flinders.edu.au
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 140408 0
Ivanka Prichard
Address 140408 0
Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042
Country 140408 0
Australia
Phone 140408 0
+61 8 82013713
Email 140408 0
ivanka.prichard@flinders.edu.au

Data sharing statement
Will the study consider sharing individual participant data?
No


What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided


Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically
No additional documents have been identified.