The Impact of an Artificial Intelligence Chatbot on Brazilian Adolescents' Body Image

High prevalence of body and eating concerns in Brazilian populations is well-documented, with risk observed across the lifespan. Prevalence rates of body dissatisfaction range between 26.6 - 56% and 10.7- 36% for adolescent girls and boys, respectively (1, 2, 3). The prevalence of these disordered attitudes and behaviours are mirrored in older populations, and have shown to manifest within family units (6). Further, Brazilian consumer trends reflect these attitudes and behaviours, with it being the leading country in diet pill consumption and aesthetic surgeries, and second in the world for total aesthetic procedures (i.e., surgical and non-surgical), with 2.27 million procedures conducted annually (8). Despite the scope of body and eating concerns, few evidence-based interventions have been developed and tested for Brazilian populations and even fewer are accessible, scalable or cost-effective. Harnessing technology to deliver evidence-based care is a key focus for researchers. Micro-interventions (brief, low intensity, self-administered interventions), offer an alternative to traditional, intense interventions that may be unsuitable for milder concerns. Body image micro-interventions have proven effective at providing immediate and short-term improvements in body image among women (9). To date, body image micro-interventions have been developed and evaluated among high-income, White, English-speaking samples, with little research exploring how this intervention model may cater to other cultures and countries. The aim of the present study is to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the immediate and short-term impact of a chatbot on Brazilian adolescents' body image, affect and body image self-efficacy. Primary outcomes include immediate and short-term changes in state- and trait-based body image, respectively. Secondary outcomes include immediate changes in state-based affect and short-term changes in trait affect and body image self-efficacy.