Eating disorder primary prevention

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In order to prevent eating disorders, it is necessary to promote a healthy mental environment for children and adolescents. Therefore, schools are the best place to run prevention programs. In addition, teachers, parents and coaches may also be involved in the intervention because they all play a vital role in creating the healthy social environment for the children and adolescents. Successful programs specifically focus on modifiable risk factors that may lead to ED. These risk factors include elevated perceived pressure to be thin, internalization of the thin ideal standard of the female beauty,body mass, body dissatisfaction and negative effect. In various randomized trials, reducing these risk factors have resulted in decreasing the ED symptoms. However, further research and trials are need to be done.[1]

Interventional Programs

Although there are many programs that have proven to be encouraging in terms of their positive impact in reducing eating disorders' pathology; however, the unanswered questions still exist within the literature that require further exploration.

  • The Healthy Weight Program
  • Body Project/Dissonance program
  • Student Bodies program
  1. Ciao AC, Loth K, Neumark-Sztainer D (2014). "Preventing eating disorder pathology: common and unique features of successful eating disorders prevention programs". Curr Psychiatry Rep. 16 (7): 453. doi:10.1007/s11920-014-0453-0. PMC 4104660. PMID 24821099.