Background: Mental health literacy has implications for mental disorder recognition, help-seeking, and stigma reduction. Research on binge-eating disorder mental health literacy (BED MHL) is limited. To address this gap, our study examined BED MHL in a community sample.
Method: Two hundred and thirty-five participants completed an online survey. Participants read a vignette depicting a female character with BED then completed a questionnaire to assess five components of BED MHL (problem recognition, perceived causes, beliefs about treatment, expected helpfulness of interventions, and expected prognosis).
Results: About half of participants correctly identified BED as the character's main problem (58.7%). The most frequently selected cause of the problem was psychological factors (46.8%) and a majority indicated that the character should seek professional help (91.9%). When provided a list of possible interventions, participants endorsed psychologist the most (77.9%).
Conclusions: Compared to previous studies, our findings suggest that current BED MHL among members of the public is better, but further improvements are needed. Initiatives to increase knowledge and awareness about the symptoms, causes, and treatments for BED may improve symptom recognition, help-seeking, and reduce stigma.
Ensuring that people have accurate knowledge about eating disorders is important to reduce stigma and improve access to treatment. We conducted a study to explore what people know about binge-eating disorder mental health literacy (BED MHL). Two hundred and thirty-five participants read a vignette about an adult woman with BED and then completed an online survey to assess their knowledge. Most participants correctly identified BED as the main problem and identified appropriate causes and treatments. Our results help clarify what people know and what they do not know about BED, which can inform programs that are designed to reduce stigma and improve access to care.
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