‘Confident Body, Confident Child': A new evidence-based resource for parents to develop positive body image and healthy eating patterns in young children

Body image and eating patterns develop in early childhood and are influenced by the family environment. Confident Body, Confident Child (CBCC) is a new universal prevention intervention for parents of 2- to 6-year-old children, designed to reduce risk for body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and overweight in early childhood. CBCC’s print materials, website, poster and parent workshop were developed from research on child risk factors for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating and a Delphi expert consensus study.

This presentation will report outcomes from a four arm Randomised Controlled Trial with 345 parents of preschoolers and discuss future directions of the CBCC program and its evaluation. This work is funded by a Post-doctoral Fellowship provided by Australian Rotary Health.

Dr. Laura Hart is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow who has been working in the field of public mental health since 2007. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating training courses for the public, to improve prevention, awareness and help-seeking for mental illness. As the winner of multiple awards, her work has been recognised at international scientific conferences and via the 2017 Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science. She is currently working on two projects funded by Australian Rotary Health. The Confident Body, Confident Child program, based at La Trobe University’s School of Psychology and Public Health, and the teen Mental Health First Aid program, based at the University of Melbourne’s School of Population and Global Health, and in partnership with Mental Health First Aid International.

The event flyer is available to download online.