Embrace Kids

Body dissatisfaction affects up to 70% of children and adolescents. Alarming research has found that Australian kids as young as eight are suffering from poor body image that could have serious and long-term health consequences. The following statistics highlight the critical need for education programs about healthy body image before the onset of puberty:

- By age seven , one in four kids has engaged in dieting behaviour
- 70% of adolescent girls dislike their body
- 1/3 of adolescent boys wished they were bigger

Using Embrace Kids as a tool, we will promote positive body image by encouraging boys and girls to be more accepting of who they are, to use positive language regarding their bodies and others, and to help them reconnect with how their body ‘feels’ rather than how it ‘looks’. This is going to be a powerful film providing a platform for the health and wellbeing of the future.

The Embrace Kids documentary is the next step in our Embrace journey. Recent studies suggest that body image is the number one issue affecting our children, and we want to be part of the solution. Embrace’s impact campaign will arm boys and girls with the skills that will make them resilient and unshakeable when bombarded with negative images in the media.

The Embrace Kids project is not just about making a film that is seen by students in schools; we want the impact to go further, into homes and communities. Working with education specialists and our community integration team, we plan on creating several free resources for teachers, parents and local health organisations. These resources will include study guides to support teachers in facilitating group discussions in the classroom, and ‘parent packs’ that will help parents and guardians to integrate the message of the film at home.

Once created, Embrace Kids will be made available to schools globally as a free resource to help teachers, community leaders, and health professionals deliver the important message of positive body image through entertaining and engaging storytelling. Taryn Brumfitt, will be working with, and leading a team of creative, academic, and education specialists to produce a film that will positively impact students, be welcomed by parents and teachers and supported by governments, health professionals and educational institutions.

The filmmakers are working closely with Dr Zali Yager (Senior Lecturer of Health and Physical Education, Victoria University) and Dr Ivanka Prichard (Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology, Flinders University) to ensure the content that is produced aligns with the evidence from the past 20 years of body image intervention research.

*Please note the positive impact of Embrace the Documentary was recently published in a medical journal - BMC Women's Health.

The combination of evidence-based practice brought together with the creative and engaging approach of film, is one that we believe will have a significant and lasting impact on the wellbeing of young children and adolescents in Australia and around the world.

The following phases have been proposed by Dr Zali Yager and Dr Ivanka Prichard to ensure the effectiveness of the documentary:

2. Developing focus groups with young people, parents, and teachers whilst in the development of the film in order to ensure that the right messages are being conveyed

3. Conducting a Randomised Controlled Trial of the film in Australian primary schools to demonstrate effectiveness. This will involve a controlled trial of the full film with over 500 8-12 year-olds in a school setting, using baseline and follow up measures to determine whether those children that see the film have a greater increase in positive body image compared to those who have not seen the film.

“Children are so anchored down by body image issues, I want the Embrace Kids documentary to give them hope to know there is an alternative to being 'at war' with their body. When I first saw the data from Dr Yager and Dr Prichard showing the positive impact my first documentary Embrace had on women's health and wellbeing, I knew I wanted to create the same positive change for children. As a mother of 2 boys and a girl, I want them to grow up valuing their body not as an ornaments but rather a vehicle in life. I've seen with my own eyes the devastation that poor body image can have on an individual and entire families, this is why Embrace Kids is so important, and I hope that people and philanthropists will see this project as worthy of supporting.”

- Taryn Brumfitt, Founder Body Image Movement / Director Embrace the documentary

Our main indicator for success is creating an effective free resource which is made available in schools around Australia for children 8-12 years of age.

The impact of our success can be measured in many different ways:

• The reach of the film and how many audiences were able to see it

• Number of people actively joining the Body Image Movement

• Any changes to advertising policies and practices

• Changes in attitude through social media

• A shift in future statistics which measure the rates of eating disorders, depression and anxiety caused by body image issues.