Co-designing a new body image and wellbeing intervention for Australians with inflammatory bowel disease

Individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often present with high body dissatisfaction, poorer quality of life and comorbid psychiatric conditions including eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. The aim of this study was to co-design a new intervention to support people with IBD and body image concerns. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first intervention of its kind. A group of 8 women and 2 men (mean age 35) with IBD and body image dissatisfaction participated in three co-design workshops. Measures of body image dissatisfaction, disordered eating, anxiety, depression, and quality of life were administered at baseline and after each workshop and analysed using linear mixed modelling. A new intervention was successfully co-designed, combining existing evidence-based knowledge and strategies from body image, disordered eating, and mental health work more broadly, in conjunction with lived experience insights and modifications. For individual co-design participants, large, statistically and clinically significant reductions were observed in body image dissatisfaction and eating disorder psychopathology. Anxiety and depression reduced with medium to large effects but did not reach significance. Co-design workshops were highly acceptable to participants. Further work will pilot the resulting intervention, which is hoped to be beneficial in reducing body image dissatisfaction (primary outcome), and the common comorbidities of disordered eating, anxiety and depression (secondary outcomes).