Introduction: Eating disorders are associated with numerous comorbid medical conditions that include cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal complications, osteoporosis and complications of the endocrine system. Early detection is vital in the prevention of the negative health outcomes which are associated with disordered eating habits. On the scientific level, screening the high school students is important because it gives a basis upon which the criteria for the diagnosis of the eating disorders can be evaluated
Method: This paper looks at the screening of students in high school for various eating disorders. This is informed by the important of early detection to the management of these disorders, by that alleviating the negative health impacts which are associated with the eating disorders3. In doing this, this paper will review numerous sources in order to give a detailed and well though view on the screening of students in high school for various eating disorders.
Results: The girls showed a higher likelihood of three to five times the number of boys of scoring at or above the diagnosing criteria of a score of twenty out of seventy-eight on the EAT-26 test. The girls showed a higher likelihood of three to five times the number of boys to report inducing vomiting in order to control their weight in the three months prior to the screening exercise and also for prior treatment for disordered eating behavior
Conclusion: Screening is a very effective and expedient way of collecting information regarding an issue. Screening has been used effectively to collect information on the prevalence and incidence of health conditions. The importance of screening is that it helps access populations that would have otherwise gone undetected
Introduction Eating disorders are associated with numerous comorbid medical conditions that include cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal complications, osteoporosis and complications of the endocrine system. Another eating disorder, binge eating, has been associated with severe obesity and psychiatric comorbidities. People who are found to have anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa show an increased risk of suicidal tendencies when they are compared to the general population1. Certain types of disordered weight control behaviors are linked to a wide variety of negative heal outcomes. These behaviors include the abusive use of laxatives and vomiting. The associated negative health outcomes include gastric rapture, esophagitis and the impairment of the digestive system. These issues associated with eating disorders make the screening of high school students extremely important on two levels. On the scientific level, screening the high school students is important because it gives a basis upon which the criteria for the diagnosis of the eating disorders can be evaluated. Additionally, the screening of the high school students evaluates programs and approaches that have been used to combat eating disorders2. Screening also gives the data on prevalence and incidence rate, thereby underscoring the important of the matter. This data can be used to prioritize programs addressing this issue.
This paper looks at the screening of students in high school for various eating disorders. This is informed by the important of early detection to the management of these disorders, by that alleviating the negative health impacts which are associated with the eating disorders3. In doing this, this paper will review numerous sources in order to give a detailed and well though view on the screening of students in high school for various eating disorders.Method A thorough review of sources of various papers, peer reviewed articles and journal articles written on the issue of disordered eating behavior among students in high school gave various data. There were differences in the approach, scope, and methodologies in these sources. Some were limited to certain geographical areas. However, an article by Austin et al., 4 was the most appropriate article because it scope was limited to the screening of students in high schools and it dealt with the issue of eating disorders. Additionally, the article took a national outlook on the screening of high school students for eating disorders4. While this is the article from which the data was considered, the arguments in this paper are informed by nine other articles, meticulously selected for their position on the issue. Results
The data collection process involved the use of a screening questionnaire that was administered to high school students in assemblies and classrooms. The questionnaire that was used to screen the students in high school for eating disorders contained a screening instrument for eating disorders that were validated and an Eating Attitudes Test. The probable scores for the Eating Attitudes Test ranged between 0 and 78. The screening criteria used to diagnose high school students who had eating disorders was that a student attaining a score of twenty or more out of seventy eight indicated that such a student possibly has an eating disorder and should be highlighted for further assessment. The other items which were included in the screening questionnaire for this national endeavor included the number of times that the student had involved in binge eating, induced vomiting in order to control their weight5 or engaged in physical exercise in order to reduce or control their weight three months prior to the screening. Seven response options including never, less than once every month, between one to three times every month, once every week, two to six times every week and more than one time every day were offers4. This national exercise was carried out in two hundred and seventy high schools. Of the two hundred and seventy schools, the questionnaires amounting to thirty five thousand students were returned from ninety-eight schools. From the ninety-eight schools that returned the questionnaires, thirty three schools were randomly selected. It is from the thirty three randomly selected schools that a number of forms, proportional to the number submitted from the respective school were selected. Overall, 5740 screening forms were selected for analysis. The variables which were considered in the analysis of data include disordered eating habits and treatment history for eating disorders. The data on these two variables was also controlled for other variables such as ethnicity or race, sex, extreme thinness and age. Extreme thinness was included as a variable because it is a commonly presenting characteristic in people with disordered eating behavior and is also readily observable4. From the sample that was selected to take part in this national screening for eating disorder the biggest percentage of the participants were of the female gender. The girls amounted to 3252, comprising 58% compared to 2315 boys who comprised 48% of the sample selected. As highlighted above, race or ethnicity was also one of the variables that were considered during the analysis of data. Of the sample that was selected, 189 participants, amounting to 3% of the entire sample were of the African American descent. Those of the American Indian descent were 93, comprising 2% of the entire sample. The Asians/Pacific Islanders were 134 comprising 2% of the entire selected sample4 as shown in table 5. The Latino ethnic groups were 303, representing 5% of the entire selected sample. The largest ethnicity in the sample that was selected was the White ethnic groups which were 4629, representing 38% of the entire selected sample. The average age of the participants selected to take part in the screening exercise was 15.9 years. The girls showed a higher likelihood of three to five times the number of boys of scoring at or above the diagnosing criteria of a score of twenty out of seventy-eight on the EAT-26 test. The girls showed a higher likelihood of three to five times the number of boys to report inducing vomiting in order to control their weight in the three months prior to the screening exercise and also for prior treatment for disordered eating behavior4 as shown in table 1. The analysis of the data noted a few significant differences in the girls population was noted, especially with regards to the disordered eating behavior across various ethnic groups6 as shown in Table 3. The Latina girls showed a lesser probability of scoring at or above the diagnosing criteria of a score of twenty out of seventy-eight on the EAT-26 test when they were compared to the girls of the white descent. The girls of the American Indian descent and those of the African American descent showed a higher likelihood of reporting engaging in the physical exercise in order to control their weight more than on time every day. When compared to the girls’ population, the boys of the Asian/Pacific, African American, Latino and American Indian descent were more symptomatic in a consistent manner when compared to the boys of white descent across a wide variety of weight control behaviors and symptoms and disordered eating behavior4 as shown in table 2. The EAT-26 score created various subgroups. Within these subgroups and binge eating, the girls showed a higher likelihood of three and half times that showed by boys of reporting prior treatment of disordered eating behavior for the same severity of symptoms as shown in Table 4. When grouped on the basis of the frequency of physical exercise in order to control one’s weigh, girls showed a higher likelihood of eight times that of boys for having received treatment for disordered eating. There was no sex difference in the odd of prior treatment for disordered eating behavior. Extreme thinness showed a positive association with the odds of prior treatment for disordered eating behavior. The data analysis did not reveal any association, negative or otherwise between the odds of prior treatment for disordered eating behavior4.Discussion Screening is a very effective and expedient way of collecting information regarding an issue. Screening has been used effectively to collect information on the prevalence and incidence of health conditions. The importance of screening is that it helps access populations that would have otherwise gone undetected. This paper aimed to determine whether screening can be used to detect disordered eating habits among high school students. This research paper considers primary data from a national screening exercise through which a questionnaire was issued in order to detect disordered eating behavior among students in high schools across the country. The data collection process used a screening questionnaire that was mailed or emailed to selected schools. A sample was generated from the questionnaires that were submitted and the data analyzed.
The national endeavor through which the results considered in this paper were derived was the first of its kind. The results of the national endeavor were significant in a number of ways. Firstly, the results of the national endeavor showed that the screening exercise has the ability to reach a large number of people. Of the questionnaires that were issued to the study population, questionnaires amounting to thirty five thousand students were returned from ninety-eight schools. This is a large accessible population from which to draw the sample. This shows that screening can be effectively used to screen for students who have disordered eating behavior7. Its wide reach allows for the screening tool to be used effectively to determine the prevalence and incidence rate of disordered eating behavior among children8. The results of the national endeavor also showed that girls showed a higher likelihood of three to five times the number of boys of scoring at or above the diagnosing criteria of a score of twenty out of seventy-eight on the EAT-26 test. This means that gilds had a higher probability of disordered eating behaviors when compared to the male counterparts. This finding is significant because it informs the programs of school counselors and psychologists, especially when designing interventions to combat disordered eating disorders in students in high school9. The fact that girls have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with disordered eating behavior means that there is the need for increased targeting on the female population in high schools using a variety of approaches in order to not only encourage them to seek treatment, but also to help them understanding the gravity of the negative health outcomes that are associated with disordered eating behavior10. The findings also revealed a higher likelihood of girls at three to five times the number of boys to report inducing vomiting in order to control their weight in the three months prior to the screening exercise and also for prior treatment for disordered eating behavior. This finding shows that girls are more likely compared to girls to seek treatment or disordered eating disorders. This is consistent with the findings that they also show a higher likelihood of inducing vomiting in order to control their weight. The study also found a consistency in the results for the girls across the different ethnic groups. This is finding is vital because it intimates that the odds that girls in high school are going to be diagnosed with disordered eating behavior are consistent across the different ethnic groups.
Strengths and Limitations
The strength of the study is that the sampling frame and the study sample is large enough to facilitate the researcher to estimate the prevalence of the issues nationally, A large study sample gives validity to the results. It is useful in painting a better picture of the issue being explored. The target population of the study is large enough to compensate for cases of attrition. Attrition could result from failure to submit the questionnaires, as was the case, or withdrawal from the study. The sampling frame utilized in the study was sensitive too all these factors that could potentially affect the outcomes and the validity of the results.
One of the limitations is that although the results of this national endeavor can be generalized to a larger population, it is worth considering that the high school students who took part in the national endeavor may not accurately represent all the high school students in the country. This is because of characteristics of the schools that submitted their questionnaires that might not be common in the other schools. It is plausible that the teachers and the administration in these schools had prior concerns of disordered eating behaviors in the students, or had more resources than the other schools. Additionally, the sizes of the various subgroups were small, especially when determining the odds of prior treatment and how these odds were associated with ethnicity. This might have reduced the power of the analysis to detect any differences in the history of treatment for disordered eating behaviors4.
Conclusion It is evident that screening can be used effectively to reach a wide coverage area. This means that screening can be used when information from a large number of people is required in quick order. The screening of high school students for disordered eating behaviors is important in the identification of the students at risk. This is beneficial, especially considering the importance of early detection in the prevention of the negative health outcomes which are associated with disordered eating habits3.
Tables
Source: Austin et al., 2008
Source: Austin et al., 2008
Source: Austin et al., 2008
Source: Austin et al., 2008
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