RISK BEHAVIOR FOR BULIMIA AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Comparison of the Prevalence of Eating Disorders among Dietetics Students and Students of Other Fields of Study at Selected Universities (Silesia, Poland)

Background: Over the past few years, an increase in the incidence of eating disorders has been noted. An increase in the pace of life, an increase in the availability of a wide variety of food products, and, to a large extent, the involvement of mass media are cited as reasons for this phenomenon. The promotion of a slim figure by the mass media is equated with achieving success in life, but also the advertising of a wide selection of food products (often highly processed) can have a serious impact on the development of eating disorders. This phenomenon is particularly observed in industrialized Western countries. Objective: Therefore, it was decided to test and compare whether dietetics students are indeed more predisposed to developing eating disorders than students not in the nutrition field. Material and methods: the study included 310 individuals representing two equal groups of fields of study—dietetics and other students. The study used standardized questionnaire—EAT-26. Results: It was found that almost half (46%) of the respondents (both dietetics students and students of other majors) met at least one criterion out of three that could indicate the probable existence or susceptibility to an eating disorder. These individuals should see a specialist for further diagnosis. There was no significant effect of the field of study on the overall EAT-26 test score (p > 0.05). When this result was corrected for BMI values for those with the lowest scores on this indicator, the risk of eating disorders was found to be higher among students of majors other than dietetics (X2 = 13.572; V = 0.831 p = 0.001). Conclusions: Almost half of the respondents in both study groups showed a predisposition to eating disorders based on the EAT-26 test. Despite the presence of a correlation in individual responses that dietetics students are more predisposed to eating disorders, no such relationship was found according to the final EAT-26 test scores. However, it was observed that non-dietetics students who had low BMI values showed higher tendencies toward behaviors indicative of eating disorders.

Bulimia, corpo e cultura

O estudo avaliou a produção científica em periódicos brasileiros das Ciências da Saúde em relação à bulimia e ao corpo sob a ótica das Ciências Humanas. Para tanto, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura, na qual se acessou a base eletrônica da Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (Lilacs) para a coleta de dados. Os termos “transtornos alimentares and corpo”, “transtornos do comportamento alimentar and corpo”, “bulimia and corpo” foram utilizados na busca dos artigos, que incluiu na amostra estudos publicados entre 2013 e 2017, disponíveis na íntegra e publicados em periódicos brasileiros. A amostra consistiu em 19 artigos os quais foram lidos na íntegra. Os resultados demonstraram que a produção científica sobre bulimia e corpo, embora interdisciplinar, possui enlace com as Ciências Naturais. Nesse sentido, conclui-se que há um limite na compreensão do fenômeno sob a ótica da cultura no campo das Ciências da Saúde, e que, um avanço no debate com as Ciências Humanas gerará potencial de abrir novos caminhos interpretativos.