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BEHANDLING-God og treffsikker diagnostikk, behandling og rehabilitering

Online psychosocial support for young people distressed by appearance-altering conditions: A randomised control trial (RCT)

Alternative title: Internettbasert selvhjelpsprogram for ungdom som strever med utseenderelaterte bekymringer: En randomisert kontrollstudie

Awarded: NOK 9.8 mill.

Looking different in a society that values appearance can be challenging during adolescence. Some adolescents have conditions or injuries (such as burns, craniofacial or skin conditions) that affect their appearance. Those who experience themselves as visibly different may be at risk of developing social anxiety or depressive symptoms, and/or limit their social life experiences. There is little available support for this group and specialised psychological services are limited. A specialised and evidence-based e-intervention would therefore be a useful supplement within the health care system for those in need of support. Centre for Appearance Research (University of the West of England, UK) has developed an online support programme, Young Person Face IT, that has been translated to Norwegian (www.ungfaceit.no). The study will evaluate the programme's effectiveness and usefulness for young people with a visible difference in Norway, and whether it can strengthen social skills and self-confidence. Ung Face IT includes seven weekly sessions, followed by a booster session. Young people complete one session a week. Ung Face IT includes information, advice, videos, and interactive activities to teach coping strategies, think and feel more positively, and overcome social anxiety. The aim was to recruit 160 young people into the study, through local and specialised health care services, schools, patient organisations, and social media. Participants were randomly allocated to direct access to Ung Face IT or assigned to the waiting list control group (access to Ung Face IT after 3 months). Recruitment ended in February 2021. In total, 137 young people/families contacted the research team for participation during the recruitment period. Among these, 104 filled out the first questionnaire, and a final sample of 83 completed all measures. In order to increase sample size, the Norwegian research team has collaborated with a Dutch team, so that samples from both countries could be merged, strengthening statistical power. Regular meetings with the reference group have been carried out. A total of 18 patient organisations and youth councils are represented in the reference group. Information and documents are sent to all members before and after meetings, so that representatives who cannot participate still can provide input. The focus of the next meeting will be to discuss work with implementation and dissemination. The reference group has also received news letters with updates on the projectbetween meetings. The study includes quantitative data (questionnaires) and qualitative data (interviews). Interviews of young people and parents explored the participants' individual experiences of Ung Face IT. A total of 35 participants were interviewed, as well as 18 parents (total number of interviews = 53). To establish whether Ung Face IT may help young people who struggle with appearance issues due to a visible difference, participants also completed online questionnaires (main measures: body esteem and social confidence) at the beginning of the study (before randomisation), after 7 weeks, and after 3 and 6 months. Outcomes are compared across the intervention and the control group. Several papers have been published with results from the project, and work on some new publications is ongoing. The last phase of the project is focussed on how Ung Face IT should be implemented in order to reach those in need of support. Ung Face IT fills a gap in current health care provision by offering an accessible and specialised appearance-specific intervention for a vulnerable subgroup who otherwise struggle to find help. Work has started with an updated version of YP Face IT, and the programme will be transferred to a Norwegian web site before working on the last phase of the project, dissemination of YP Face IT.

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Looking different in a society that values appearance can be challenging during adolescence. Some adolescents have conditions or injuries (burns, craniofacial or skin conditions) that affect their appearance. Those who experience themselves as “visibly different” may be at risk of developing social anxiety or depression. There is very little available support for this group and specialised psychological services are limited in Norway. There is a need for evidence-based interventions that could provide support for this group. Centre for Appearance Research (UK) has developed an online support programme, now translated to Norwegian (www.ungfaceit.no). The study will evaluate the programme’s efficacy and usefulness for young people in Norway, and whether it can strengthen social skills and self-confidence. Ung Face IT includes seven weekly sessions followed by a booster session. It uses information, advice, videos, and interactive activities to teach coping strategies, think and feel more positively, and overcome social anxiety. A total of 160 young people will be recruited. Participants will be randomly allocated to Ung Face IT (plus usual care provided within primary care), or assigned to the control group (usual care for 6 months before testing out Ung Face IT). Interviews of young people and parents will explore the participants’ experiences of Ung Face IT (qualitative data). To establish whether Ung Face IT helps, participants will complete online questionnaires (worries with appearance and social confidence) at the beginning of the study, and after 3 and 6 months. Outcomes will be compared across the intervention and the control group (quantitative data). The study will provide insight into how Ung Face IT should be implemented in order to reach those in need of support. Ung Face IT fill a gap in current health care provision by offering an accessible and specialised appearance-specific intervention for a vulnerable subgroup who otherwise struggle to find help.

Publications from Cristin

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BEHANDLING-God og treffsikker diagnostikk, behandling og rehabilitering