Setting policy priorities to address eating disorders and weight stigma: views from the field of eating disorders and the US general public

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevalence and health consequences of eating disorders and weight stigmatization have prompted increasing discussion of potential policy actions to address these public health issues. The present study aimed to assess support for policy strategies to address eating disorders and weight stigmatization among the general public and relevant health professionals.MethodsAn Internet survey was fielded to a national sample of 944 US adults and 1,420 members of professional organizations specializing in eating disorders to examine their support for 23 potential policy strategies to address eating disorders and weight stigma. Participants also rated policy actions according to their potential for positive impact and feasible implementation.ResultsSupport for the majority of health and social policies was high in both samples. For example, strategies to 1) improve school-based health curriculum to include content aimed at preventing eating disorders, 2) require training for educators and health providers on the prevention and early identification of eating disorders, and 3) implement school-based anti-bullying policies that that protect students from being bullied about their weight, were supported by over two-thirds of participants.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that both health and social policy actions will be important in broader policy initiatives to address eating disorders and weight stigma.

Eating Behaviors, Weight Bias, and Psychological Functioning in Multi-ethnic Low-income Adolescents

“…Future studies are needed to identify and evaluate community and school-based interventions to minimize WB and disordered eating. Research strongly supports the inclusion of content on prevention of eating disorders and WB in schoolbased curriculum (Aimé, LeBlanc, & Maïano, 2017;Puhl, Neumark-Sztainer, Austin, Suh, & Wakefield, 2016) and implementing school-based policies, with educators, school counselors, administrators, coaches, school nurses, parents, and students, to address weight bias (Puhl et al, 2016;Puhl, Neumark-Sztainer, Austin, Luedicke, & King, 2014) and disordered eating in schools (Neumark-Sztainer, Story, & Coller, 1999;Puhl et al, 2016;Yager & O'Dea, 2005).…”

Consumer opinion on social policy approaches to promoting positive body image: Airbrushed media images and disclaimer labels

“…However, consumer opinion has largely been neglected. To date, only one study has investigated support for labelling airbrushed images among consumers, albeit in the context of social policy approaches to addressing eating disorders and weight stigma (Puhl et al, 2014). They found that 67.3% of a representative sample of the US general public and 91.4% of a sample of US eating disorder professionals supported this social policy action.…”

“…Alternatively, positive body image is associated with a range of beneficial health behaviours and outcomes, including increased physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and improved emotional health (NeumarkSztainer et al, 2006). Despite an increasing focus on social policy approaches to promoting positive body image, and that public support is often critical to their uptake and success (Puhl et al, 2014), consumer opinion on this type of intervention has largely been neglected. We address this gap by investigating consumers' opinions on labelling media images with airbrushing disclaimers, which is a commonly advocated social policy approach to addressing body image (Paxton, in press).…”

Women Veterans’ Treatment Preferences for Disordered Eating

“…Given that more than two thirds of the US population is overweight/obese (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2014), treating disordered eating, as opposed to solely focusing on clinical eating disorders, is a public health concern (Puhl, Neumark-Sztainer, Austin, Luedicke, & King, 2014). Treating disordered eating is of special importance to veterans served by the Veterans Health Administration (VA).…”