The Body Justice Project began in 2021 and represents an ongoing community-engaged implementation research collaboration between Shuksan Middle School in Bellingham, WA and the teams of Dr. Anna Ciao (Western Washington University) and Dr. Kevin Delucio (Fairhaven College). This work was funded by the Center for Cross-Cultural Research from 2021-2023.
🏫
History
In the 2021-2022 academic year, intervention programming for the Shuksan Body Justice Project was created by a team of undergraduate students from WWU with experience facilitating the EVERYbody Project, alongside seven staff and administrators at Shuksan Middle School, and 17 Shuksan students (6th, 7th, and 8th graders) who were hand-selected based on their lived experience with body liberation and diversity advocacy. Principles of co-design and research engagement with the youth team followed recommendations of Cahill & Dadvand (2018), a framework for involving youth in health-related program development that takes into account the power differential and typical practices in participatory research with youth.
The resulting 8-session program (45 minutes per session; 6 hours total) is based on the dissonance-based college EVERYbody Project but represents collaborative program-building through a participatory research process. When creating this program, team members shared in the decision-making process and experience of developing the intervention. Regular (bi-weekly) advisory team meetings established program needs, discussed options for content, facilitation, and structure, and piloted intervention pieces. On-site leads (youth team leader, on-site coordinator, district liaison) were identified and compensated for their contributions. While some elements of the EVERYbody Project were retained, the program was redesigned according to the needs of the middle school age group (e.g., adding information on non-diet nutrition) and specific to Shuksan school (e.g., a section on body autonomy to address school dynamics).
In spring 2022, the Body Justice Project was piloted with three middle school classes at Shuksan (one 6th, one 7th, one 8th), with primary facilitation from WWU team members and co-facilitation by Shuksan staff members and middle school students. Piloting aimed to understand the feasibility and acceptability of the program for each grade level and collected feedback from students, teachers, and facilitators. In the summer of 2022, feedback from the pilot was incorporated to create a revised curriculum that was evaluated in an initial implementation research study. The implementation study was co-planned by advisory team members across the middle school and university research team.
In spring 2022, the Body Justice Project was piloted with three middle school classes at Shuksan (one 6th, one 7th, one 8th), with primary facilitation from WWU team members and co-facilitation by Shuksan staff members and middle school students. Piloting aimed to understand the feasibility and acceptability of the program for each grade level and collected feedback from students, teachers, and facilitators. In the summer of 2022, feedback from the pilot was incorporated to create a revised curriculum that was evaluated in an initial implementation research study. The implementation study was co-planned by advisory team members across the middle school and university research team.
Ongoing Collaboration and Impact
Each year, trained WWU leaders from the EBI team collaborate with Shuksan teachers and 7th grade students to run the Body Justice Project curriculum. Since 2022, over 300 students have received the curriculum and over 20 trained college students have led programming. The research team continues evaluating the impact of the curriculum on body image, disordered eating, and school climate outcomes. Results are forthcoming.
Each year, trained WWU leaders from the EBI team collaborate with Shuksan teachers and 7th grade students to run the Body Justice Project curriculum. Since 2022, over 300 students have received the curriculum and over 20 trained college students have led programming. The research team continues evaluating the impact of the curriculum on body image, disordered eating, and school climate outcomes. Results are forthcoming.
📝
Intervention Overview
The 8-session Shuksan Body Justice Project is divided into four topics, with two 45-minute sessions per topic. Each session includes two active exercises to engage with the topic (dissonance-based or psychoeducational activities):
The 8-session Shuksan Body Justice Project is divided into four topics, with two 45-minute sessions per topic. Each session includes two active exercises to engage with the topic (dissonance-based or psychoeducational activities):
- Cultural appearance ideals: Students identify and critique the narrow cultural norms about attractive bodies, particularly how they exclude diverse identities. A flexible and individual definition of health is introduced.
- Diet culture and non-diet nutrition: Students learn about size-inclusive health and principles of intuitive eating, deconstruct health myths and good vs. bad foods, and reflect on ways that food represents culture.
- Social media and appearance pressure: Students discuss the impact of mass media and social media on appearance pressure, critiquing advertisements and redesigning their social media to promote diverse body images and messages.
- Body autonomy: Students learn body compassion and self-care, boundary setting, and how to value diverse bodies other than their own.
Please reach out to Dr. Ciao if you are interested in using the Body Justice Project or initiating research collaborations.