Preventing eating disorders

Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2009 Jan;18(1):199-207. doi: 10.1016/j.chc.2008.07.012.

Abstract

This article reviews eating disorder (ED) prevention programs, highlighting features that define successful programs and particularly promising interventions, and how they might be further refined. The field of ED prevention has advanced considerably both theoretically and methodologically compared with the earlier ED prevention programs, which were largely psychoeducational and met with limited success. Recent meta-analytic findings show that more than half (51%) of ED prevention interventions reduced ED risk factors and more than a quarter (29%) reduced current or future eating pathology (EP). A couple of brief programs have been shown to reduce the risk for future onset of EP and obesity. Selected interactive, multisession programs offered to participants older than 15 years, delivered by professional interventionists and including body acceptance or dissonance-induction content, produced larger effects. Understanding and applying these results can help inform the design of more effective prevention programs in the future.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Anorexia Nervosa / prevention & control
  • Anorexia Nervosa / psychology
  • Body Image
  • Bulimia Nervosa / prevention & control
  • Bulimia Nervosa / psychology
  • Child
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / methods
  • Cognitive Dissonance
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / prevention & control*
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / psychology
  • Female
  • Health Education
  • Humans
  • Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care
  • Peer Group
  • Psychotherapy, Group
  • Risk Factors
  • Self Concept