Barriers in addressing body image and eating issues in primary care: an overview of women’s narratives

Kaitz, Jenesse; Ray, Sukanya; Harkins, Debra A.

doi:10.1080/03630242.2019.1635562

Cited by 5 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Two cross-sectional studies explored help-seeking rates among adults aged 18 and older from general respondent samples. Thirty-five percent of 102 American university-age women communicated their eating and body image concerns to their primary care providers [ 50 ]. Similarly, more than one third of 291 Australian emerging adults with concerns about their eating, weight, or body shape reported having previously sought help for these concerns [ 46 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In hindsight, 35 American university students who first sought help for their eating and body image concerns from their GP reported wanting to disclose these concerns to friends, family, and specialized mental health providers instead [ 50 ]. Twenty percent of respondents in a cross-sectional study reported seeking help from a mental health professional, while 13 to 15% sought help from their GP, parents, websites, friends, or partner [ 46 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emerging adults Primary care providers have been reported to lack knowledge about EDs, dismiss concerns, and not be able to identify the warning signs of an ED [ 48 , 50 , 91 ]. Other healthcare providers (e.g., psychiatrists, counsellors) were also considered ill-equipped to identify or treat EDs [ 91 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other healthcare providers (e.g., psychiatrists, counsellors) were also considered ill-equipped to identify or treat EDs [ 91 ]. American university students avoided discussing eating and body image concerns with their GPs because they were not prompted about these issues, there was insufficient time during appointments, they were scared or uncomfortable discussing these topics, or they had closed-off and non-empathetic providers [ 50 ]. A lack of trust in providers was also found to dissuade emerging adults from seeking treatment for their ED [ 50 , 58 , 90 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…American university students avoided discussing eating and body image concerns with their GPs because they were not prompted about these issues, there was insufficient time during appointments, they were scared or uncomfortable discussing these topics, or they had closed-off and non-empathetic providers [ 50 ]. A lack of trust in providers was also found to dissuade emerging adults from seeking treatment for their ED [ 50 , 58 , 90 ]. An added difficulty cited was that individuals with EDs often present to healthcare providers with other mental or physical health concerns as their presenting issue, whether this was intentional or not [ 52 , 73 , 90 ]; this acted as a barrier for receiving treatment as it delayed ED recognition.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Help-seeking attitudes and behaviours among youth with eating disorders: a scoping review

et al. 2022

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Background Although early intervention is crucial in interrupting the development of eating disorders, little is currently known about help-seeking behaviours among individuals experiencing eating disorder symptoms. Given that eating disorders typically begin early in life, it is necessary to investigate the processes employed by children, adolescents, and emerging adults when seeking services for troubling symptoms. This is a growing concern as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in the number of individuals engaging in disordered eating behaviours. This scoping review explores the current state of the literature for evidence on how youth with eating disorder symptoms seek help, with the aim of better understanding how to identify and treat more individuals earlier. Methods Using scoping review methodology, we searched seven databases for studies published from January 2000 to April 2021 that reported on help-seeking attitudes, behaviours, and healthcare utilization patterns for children and adolescents (< 18 years), emerging adults (18–25 years), and a mixture of these groups (< 25 years). Seven thousand, two hundred, and eighteen articles were identified for review. After duplicates were removed, three reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts and reviewed full-text articles. Findings related to help-seeking activity were extracted from the 62 articles that were ultimately included in this scoping review. Results Study findings were summarized into help-seeking patterns (i.e., rates, types) as well as factors ranging from the individual level to society that influenced help-seeking behaviour. Many youth meeting eating disorder criteria were not seeking help. Notable barriers to help-seeking included poor mental health literacy, experiences with healthcare providers who failed to detect and lacked knowledge about eating disorders, minimal support from family and friends, and stigma surrounding eating disorders and help-seeking for mental health concerns. Conclusions The results of this scoping review can be used to inform early intervention and health promotion program development. Future research should focus on the help-seeking attitudes and activities among underrepresented groups with eating disorders (e.g., men, ethnic and gender minorities), the perspectives of family and other supporters in the help-seeking process for youth, and retrospective accounts from adults with lived experience of an eating disorder. Plain English summary Addressing and interrupting eating disorder-related thoughts and behaviours as soon as possible, with the help of a mental health professional, leads to better outcomes for youth struggling with an eating disorder. However, little is known about what prompts youth to talk about their weight, body, or eating concerns with someone—like their parent, friend, teacher, guidance counsellor, or primary care practitioner. This review explores the available published research on help-seeking patterns and preferences among youth with eating disorder concerns. Our team followed a standardized process to find 62 relevant articles for this paper. Of note, many young people who reported eating disorder concerns were not seeking help for themselves. Feeling supported by family and their primary care provider, understanding the signs of an eating disorder, and not feeling shame for reaching out for help reportedly led youth to speak up about their concerns. The findings have clinical implications for learning effective ways to help youth feel safe to speak freely about their eating disorder-related concerns, which enhances the chances of intervening early and catching symptoms before they worsen.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Help-seeking attitudes and behaviours among youth with eating disorders: a scoping review

et al. 2022

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Exploring Patient Perspectives of Body Image Conversations in Primary Care: Understandings, Experiences, and Expectations

Ling

Ene

Lamarche

2022

Journal of Patient Experience

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Primary care physicians (PCPs) and patients identified body image conversations to be difficult but necessary. As first points of contact in the healthcare system, PCPs are ideal candidates for addressing body image concerns. Through latent thematic analysis of 12 interviews, this paper explores patient preferences with body image conversations in primary care. We identified challenges that patients faced in sharing body image concerns, expectations they hold for physicians, and suggested potential areas of future research and ways to improve care.

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An exploratory examination of medical and nursing students’ intentions to discuss body image, weight, and eating disorders with their patients

Markey,

August,

Rosenbaum

et al. 2024

J Eat Disord

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Background Although many people have concerns about their body image, weight, and eating behaviors these issues are not usually discussed in a productive manner with medical providers. Thus, we examined nursing and medical students’ willingness to discuss patients’ weight, body image, and eating disorders and reasons why they may do so. Method One hundred and eighty-three nursing and medical students ( M age = 25.06, SD = 5.43) participated in this study. Participants completed open-ended questions pertaining to their willingness to discuss body image, eating, and weight-related issues with future patients. We further queried students’ perspective on body mass index (BMI) as a measure of weight status and sought to determine if participants’ own weight, weight concerns, appearance evaluation, body appreciation, and experiences of stigma were associated with their willingness to discuss weight-related issues with prospective patients. Results Coding of qualitative data indicated that nursing and medical students were “sometimes” willing to discuss prospective patients’ weight, body image, and eating disorders, especially if a health concern was evident. Nursing students seemed somewhat more willing to discuss weight issues than medical students and willingness to discuss one of these issues (e.g., body image) was positively associated with willingness discuss the others. Plans for future discussions of body image and weight were marginally associated with personal experiences of weight stigma. The majority of participants indicated that BMI was not a valid measure of health. Conclusions Taken together, findings suggest that future providers’ conversations with patients about these sensitive topics are less likely to be associated with their own experiences and more with the relevance of these topics to specific patients.

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Barriers in addressing body image and eating issues in primary care: an overview of women’s narratives

Cited by 5 publications

References 30 publications

Help-seeking attitudes and behaviours among youth with eating disorders: a scoping review

Help-seeking attitudes and behaviours among youth with eating disorders: a scoping review

Exploring Patient Perspectives of Body Image Conversations in Primary Care: Understandings, Experiences, and Expectations

An exploratory examination of medical and nursing students’ intentions to discuss body image, weight, and eating disorders with their patients

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