Internet Program Helps Prevent Eating Disorders

Researchers have found that an eight-week online cognitive behavioral program called Student Bodies helps prevents eating disorders in high-risk college-aged women.

Four-hundred eighty college-age women with high body shape and weight concerns were recruited for the study. After undergoing the program which aims to reduce body image concerns, promote healthy eating and exercise and address the unhealthy effects of eating disorders, participants were interviewed annually for up to three years.

While the overall incidence of eating disorders was not drastically different between women who underwent the program and those in a control group, two subgroups showed notable improvements: In women with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of more than 25, none from the intervention group developed an eating disorder after two years, compared with 11.9 percent in the control group.

Women who had already shown signs of eating disorders such as self-induced vomiting or diet pill use also showed a marked deduction in eating disorders. After two years, 30 percent of control group participants exhibiting these behaviors had developed an eating disorder, compared with 14 percent of those who completed Student Bodies.

The research was funded by the National Institute for Health and published in The Archives of General Psychiatry.

Read more: College Women at Risk for Eating Disorder May Benefit From Online Intervention

ABSTRACT: Prevention of Eating Disorders in At-Risk College-Age Women