Feasibility and acceptability of a single-session online workshop targeting self-compassion skills for emerging adults with disordered eating.

objectivesResearch supports a protective role of self-compassion in guarding against disordered eating, which is especially prevalent in emerging adults (ages 18-25 years old). This set of two studies explored the relevance of self-compassion to emerging adults, expectancies of the impact of having a self-compassion mindset on disordered eating, and the prospective and concurrent acceptability and feasibility of a single-session online workshop targeting self-compassion skills in emerging adults with disordered eating.

methodsStudy 1 examined emerging adults' (n = 536) understanding of self-compassion and expected impact of having a self-compassion mindset on disordered eating, along with prospective workshop acceptability. Study 2 explored the concurrent feasibility and acceptability of the single-session workshop in a large and demographically diverse sample of emerging adults endorsing current disordered eating (n = 515).

resultsStudy 1 found that emerging adults understood the concept of self-compassion and appreciated its actual importance in their lives and perceived importance in the lives of others (i.e., peers, parents). Emerging adults with disordered eating expected self-compassion to positively impact their disordered eating symptoms. Study 2 found the online workshop to be feasible and acceptable to emerging adults with disordered eating, as indicated by adequate treatment recruitment and retention, good comprehension of workshop content, and positive expectancies that the self-compassion skills learned would have a positive impact on disordered eating.

conclusionA workshop building self-compassion skills is relevant to emerging adults and could be protective for those with disordered eating. Future work to examine the efficacy of the workshop appears warranted. Self-compassion can serve a protective role in guarding against the development of disordered eating. The first study explored how relevant self-compassion is to emerging adults and how much they believe having a self-compassion mindset can impact disordered eating. The second study explored how preferable a one-time online workshop targeting self-compassion skills would be to emerging adults with disordered eating. Emerging adults understood what self-compassion is and appreciated its actual importance in their lives. Additionally, emerging adults expected that having a self-compassion mindset would positively impact their eating disorder symptoms. Further, the online workshop was feasible and acceptable to emerging adults with disordered eating. A workshop building self-compassion skills may be protective for emerging adults with disordered eating.