Objective Eating disorders (EDs) are highly stigmatized conditions. The current study explored factors hypothesized to influence this stigmatization including ethnicity, gender, ED subtype, and proposed etiology. Methods Undergraduates (N=235) read scenarios depicting fictional characters varying on ethnicity, gender ED subtype, and etiology. Participants reported perceptions of each character, and completed the EAT-26 and the Level-of-Contact scale. Results Characters with BN were viewed as more responsible for their ED and more self-destructive than those with AN, who were viewed as more self-controlled. Characters with a sociocultural etiology were rated as most likely to recover. Characters with a biological etiology were viewed as more likeable than characters with an ambiguous etiology. Characters in the ambiguous group were viewed as more self-destructive, more responsible for their ED, and less self-controlled. Differences in participants’ perceptions of the characters also emerged when examining ethnicity and gender. Finally, participants’ own ED symptoms and their level of contact with EDs were associated with viewing characters as more similar and self-controlled. Discussion Findings highlight the need for increased education about ED etiology and course.

No abstract

Disordered eating behavior is common in college women. Thus, it is important to develop programs to reduce eating disorder (ED) risk. Studies suggest that dissonance-based (DB) prevention programs successfully reduce ED risk factors; however, face-to-face DB groups lack anonymity and convenience. One way to address these barriers is to adapt DB programs for online use. Few studies have examined the feasibility of this delivery mode. This study compared the efficacy of an online DB program with a face-to-face DB program and an assessment-only condition. Undergraduate women (N = 333) recruited from a participant pool at a public university in the mid-Atlantic United States participated (n = 107 face-to-face DB, n = 112 online DB, n = 114 assessment-only). It was hypothesized that: (a) participants in the face-to-face and online DB conditions would report greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and ED symptoms at post-testing relative to participants in the assessment-only control group, and (b) online and face-to-face programs would yield comparable results. Modified intent-to-treat analyses indicated that participants in both conditions manifested less body dissatisfaction at post-test compared with assessment-only participants; there were no significant differences in outcomes between the two modes of program delivery. These findings indicate that DB ED prevention programs can be successfully adapted for online use. Future studies should continue to refine online adaptations of such programs and examine their effects with samples that include older and younger women, and men.

Pediatric overweight is associated with numerous physical and psychological health risks, and overweight children are at significant risk for obesity in adulthood. African-American children are at particularly high risk for obesity and related health complications. However, this racial group has traditionally had limited access to obesity treatment and relatively few studies have included sufficient numbers of lower-SES, African American participants. Further, although parental involvement in treatment for pediatric overweight has been found to be beneficial, few studies have examined the efficacy of offering treatment exclusively to parents, a potentially cost-effective approach which could benefit the entire family. This pilot project will evaluate the efficacy of an intensive parenting intervention, (NOURISH; Nourishing Our Understanding of Role modeling to Improve Support and Health), targeting racially diverse parents of overweight children (ages 6–11). NOURISH addresses several urgent research priorities by targeting the underserved and addressing the significant disparity in obesity treatment services. Parents meeting study criteria (having a child between the ages of 6 and 11 with a BMI ≥ the 85th percentile) will be offered participation in the randomized trial comparing NOURISH with a control group. We hypothesize that children whose parents participate in NOURISH will manifest greater decreases in BMI, and greater improvements in dietary intake, and quality of life compared to children whose parents do not participate. This study is designed explicitly to gather preliminary feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness data to inform a subsequent larger randomized controlled trial.