Body Image in Primary Schools: A pilot evaluation of a primary school intervention program designed by teachers to improve children’s body satisfaction

•A widely available body image intervention for pre-adolescents was evaluated.•Girl’s reported higher body esteem post-intervention and follow-up.•Girls with lower body esteem at baseline reported the largest improvements.•Changes were also observed in the control group.•Methodological issues are discussed. Body Image in the Primary School (Hutchinson & Calland, 2011) is a body image curriculum that is widely available but has not yet been evaluated. This study evaluates a set of 6 of the 49 available lessons from this curriculum. Seventy-four girls and 70 boys aged 9–10 were recruited from four primary schools in the UK. Schools were randomly allocated into the intervention condition, where students received 6hours of body image lessons, or to lessons as normal. Body esteem was significantly higher among girls in the intervention group, compared to the control group, immediately post intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. Moreover, girls with lowest levels of body esteem at baseline reported the largest gains. Internalization was significantly lower among boys in the control group compared to the intervention group at 3-month follow-up. The pattern of results among the control group raises interesting issues for intervention evaluation.