Objective and MethodsOn April 25, 2000, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) convened a Roundtable on the Prevention of Eating Disorders to review the state of prevention science in eating disorders and formulate recommendations regarding future steps to be taken in this area of research.Results and DiscussionThis report summarizes the roundtable discussion. The discussion focused on four major areas: the state of the art of risk factors research, translational research, prevention research in related fields, and cutting‐edge efforts in eating disorder prevention.ConclusionsThe report concludes with specific recommendations. © 2002 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 31: 233–239, 2002; DOI 10.1002/eat.10014

The Prevention Research Branch, Division of Clinical Research, of the National Institute of Mental Health held a research workshop on the methodological issues in evaluating preventive interventions using mutual support. This workshop, held in June 1989, was part of an effort to stimulate high-quality research on preventive interventions using mutual support. These interventions include but are not limited to naturally occurring self-help groups. Participants reviewed methodological problems, generated strategies for dealing with these problems, and made recommendations for future research in this area.

The Prevention Research Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health held a research workshop on the prevention of unipolar depression. This workshop, held in April 1987, was part of an effort to develop further research on the prevention of depression. Researchers representing a variety of disciplines reviewed the state of the art, discussed methodological issues, and made recommendations for future research. Major issues discussed included (a) criteria for the target disorder, (b) priorities for target populations, (c) methodological problems including recruitment and retention, and (d) recommendations for future research.