navigate: home: magazine: fall 2000: article

Eating disorders on campus By Ellen P. James
Dr. Claudia Probart, associate professor of nutrition at Penn State, is one of the founders and the faculty chair of the conference Eating Disorders on Campus: The Institutional Response. Eating disorders statistics in the United States* Between 5 million and 10 million girls and women and 1 million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or borderline conditions. 35 percent of normal dieters will progress to pathological dieting, and of those, one in four will progress to partial or full syndrome eating disorders. 80 percent of women have dieted by age 18, and up to 15 percent have symptoms of an eating disorder (distorted body image, binge eating, compulsive exercising or dieting). 81 percent of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat. 91 percent of women on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, and 22 percent dieted often or always. * Data compiled by Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Inc.	For the sixth year in a row, Penn State has hosted Eating Disorders on Campus: The Institutional Response. This national conference draws upon the resources of Penn State and other colleges and universities throughout the United States to explore the problem of eating disorders among college students — its causes, treatments and prevention.   Dr. Claudia Probart, associate professor of nutrition at Penn State, is one of the founders and the faculty chair of the conference.   “There are many enlightening and instructional eating disorders conferences conducted throughout the country, but when we were first considering developing a conference dealing with eating disorders, I asked myself: What groups are not having their needs addressed?” Probart said. “We realized that institutions like colleges, universities and the military, each with a population of high-risk sufferers of eating disorders, could benefit greatly from a conference dealing with such issues.”   About 60 percent of eating disorders sufferers reside within the collegiate setting, and this conference is the only national program designed especially for university and college counseling and student health professionals.   During this year’s two-day conference, treatment and counseling professionals delved into effective strategies for assessing, treating and preventing eating disorders and body image disturbance within the institutional setting. Speakers and presenters addressed topics on making the new millennium a safer and better era for women, approaching treatment for African-American women suffering from eating disorders, preventing eating disorders in collegiate athletics and creating programs to combat and raise awareness of eating disorders in the military setting.   Stephanie Tyworth, program developer with the Outreach Office of Program Development, has been involved with planning the conferences since their inception in 1995. She said many of the participants attend not only because they want to learn about the latest treatments and best practices, but also because they are involved on a deeper level.   “A fair number of participants are involved on a personal level and are deeply committed to learning more about this issue. They have a close relationship with people who are struggling with disordered eating,” Tyworth said.   “I have had a longstanding interest in eating disorders from when I was studying at a children’s hospital in Salt Lake City,” Probart added. “There, I was introduced to young women with eating disorders, and I was struck by their suffering. The experience created an awareness of a disease that has people purposely starving themselves. It made a definite impact on me.”   With such a complex disorder and having some of the highest numbers of fatalities of psychological diseases, an institutional response requires a multidisciplinary effort combining medical, nutritional, research-oriented and campus-based approaches. Penn State offered expertise in each of these areas at the conference.   Dr. Richard L. Levine, director of adolescent medicine, College of Medicine, The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, returned to the conference for his second year, presenting current information on the medical management of eating disorders for young adults and adolescents. He and his colleagues run outpatient, intensive outpatient and inpatient eating disorders programs at the Hershey Medical Center. The goal of these programs is to forestall, prevent and treat existing cases of disordered eating. He shared his clinical experiences on treating these patients.   “We are constantly examining how to treat this very complex problem and remain up-to-date on the latest medical strategies,” Levine said. “We need a multidisciplinary team to incorporate medical, nutritional and psychological treatment. The conference is a very important means for me to work on the team concept.”   While Levine is actively treating the medical problems of patients suffering from disordered eating, another Penn Stater is looking into why some young women develop the problem.   Gerard Hoefling, doctoral candidate in the College of Health and Human Development, is exploring how interpersonal relationships can shape a person’s susceptibility to disordered eating traits. He presented his research related to emotions involved in eating disorders, which could affect future treatment and evaluation approaches.   “Individual personality arises in part as a result of interpersonal relations and respective emotional experiences. Such experiences with parents, siblings and peers may give rise to a distorted sense of self,” Hoefling said. “Couple this with a culture that has an unhealthy view of and unreasonable expectations for women, and there may arise the catalyst for developing the pathology of disordered eating. In the worlds of research and practice, there can be a lack of communication. This conference helps bridge that gap.”   With the conference’s emphasis on ways institutions can better understand and treat eating disorders, Dr. Linda LaSalle, community health organizer for Penn State’s University Health Services, talked about running a large-scale, on-campus eating disorders program and explained the benefits of a coordinated approach on a large and diverse land-grant university campus.   “While large universities often have more resources for health education and prevention, there can be a drawback by a lack of coordination and duplication of services,” LaSalle said. “But Penn State has been able to overcome that.”   She said University Health Services coordinates eating disorders theme theatre programs, eating disorders awareness days, body image fairs and widely available eating disorders information for prevention and on-campus treatment programs.   “Disordered eating is not a new problem and continues to be a serious concern as it remains a ubiquitous presence in our society,” Probart said. “Penn State recognized the eating disorders issues facing institutions and pooled resources and strategies that have made national impact, making Penn State a leader for institutions looking to create awareness while treating and preventing eating disorders.” An outreach program of the College of Health and Human Development
© 2002 Outreach Communications,   Outreach & Cooperative Extension,   The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108,   fax: (814) 863-2765,   e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu