4. Community and school protective factors
Protective factors include messages from community-based relationships and institutions such as schools that promote social, emotional and physical health. Focus on health (e.g., healthy diet and activity patterns) rather than weight prevents the overvaluation of weight and shape as a basis for self-esteem and prevents negative bias about larger body size (Austin, Field, Wiecha, Peterson, and Gortmaker, 2005)
Community action: The community provides a set of environments that can support healthy behaviors. In order to encourage healthy behaviors and attitudes we support "participatory empowerment of communities" through "tailoring interventions to local needs and practices" (p. 237, Levine and Smolak, 2006).
Cyber-prevention: In the broadest context, the World Wide Web provides health-promoting information. The Web provides many informative sites for general information, psychoeducation about eating disorders, prevention tips, media literacy, advocacy and media activism. Through published information, chat rooms, blogs, and webinars, young and old can learn interactively via virtual exchange between multiple users. Click here for links to some other prevention-related websites
Mass media campaigns: Mass media campaigns are directed at the general population, governments and policy makers, and other media that are sources of influence on the public. When undertaking a mass media campaign four steps need to be observed (Smolak and Levine, 2006, 329-330):
- Correctly identify the stakeholders who have the influence to make change: e.g., government policy makers, businesses that influence health
- Develop messages to influence the stakeholders. Examples of important messages are
-Celebrate diversity in gender, size and shape. Prejudice against women, larger-sized people, and ethnic minorities is wrong.
- Embracing cultural values that glorify thinness and vilify fat can lead to body dissatisfaction and high risk for eating problems and weight management behaviors.
- Full blown eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are life-threatening conditions.
- Whatever size or shape someone is, positive body image is important for good health.
-Weight has a complicated relationship to health - a person can be of average weight and be unhealthy.
- Communal eating in a positive, friendly, nurturing environment is valuable.
-It is important to build life skills to cope with stress in ways other than through eating, restricting food intake, or excessive activity/exercise - Gain access to the media to describe both the problems and their prevention so policies develop, e.g., thin models may be unhealthy themselves as well as promoting an unhealthy size ideal. Government policies may lead to regulating the modeling industry to screen models for good health.
- As policies emerge, work with the mass media to promote policies, reinforce political pressure and remind the public.
Protection through positive social marketing:
Prevention of eating, weight and body image problems can be addressed through positive social marketing:
- Promoting health and body acceptance by using marketing principles to socially influence audiences toward body and health-positive behaviors, e.g., health promotion campaign at school to help boys to reduce objectification of girls' bodies (Levine and Smolak, 2006)
- Activism and advocacy by promoting health, balanced physical activity, size acceptance and positive body image through media, t-shirts, posters, peer and parent-designed events, and political lobbying (see www.nationaleatingdisorders.org for information and ideas)
- Cyber-prevention (Levine and Smolak, 2006) : web information that discourages disordered eating and involvement in pro-eating disorder websites, provides accurate health-related information and encourages treatment and prevention of disordered eating and exercise.
Local advocacy:
Youth, parents, family, professionals, school personnel, businesses, community organizations and churches can advocate at a local level to prevent body image, weight and eating-related problems.
Here are some tips for local advocacy:
- Participate in parent-teacher-administrator associations, e.g., Parent Teacher Assocation (PTA), and advocate for healthy, balanced, nutrition and exercise messages and options in schools.
- Help to sponsor a local eating disorder prevention activity in your community during National Eating Disorders Association Week (NEDAW, usually in Febuary). Go to www.natioanleatingdisorders.org for specific ideas or programs for your community.
- Talk to school personnel when you or your agency becomes aware of size-related teasing, negative messages, or hurtful media messages in schools or other community institutions.
- Contact local legislators to promote awareness of eating disorders as a public health problem.
- Encourage local, state and federal policymakers (www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org) to improve education and public awareness of healthy/balanced nutrition and exercise, media literacy and responsible advertising, and access to eating disorders care.
- Assist in a local fund raiser for research, education, prevention and improved treatment.
- Sponsor local speakers for education and prevention about body image and disordered eating.
