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Background: This program will focus on disordered eating and body image issues on college campuses and introduce an innovative new study that aims to improve how we understand and respond to these issues. The program will include presentation of groundbreaking findings and interactive discussion with participants.
(1) Overview of the study
We will discuss the background, conceptual model, and primary objectives of U-SHAPE, which is a web-based survey administered to university students.
(2) Presentation of findings
In it’s inaugural year, U-SHAPE will be conducted on 2 campuses (University of Michigan and Michigan State University), with plans in place for nationwide expansion in the coming years. The projected sample size for the first year (i.e. the data that we will present at IAEDP) is 5,000+ students between the two institutions. Data collection will occur in October 2012, allowing ample time for analysis of the data in preparation for the IAEDP Symposium.
(3) Implications for future research and practice
The findings presented from U-SHAPE will be drawn from one of the largest and most diverse studies of disordered eating among college students. The implications for future research and practice are numerous. Drawing from the knowledge of the U-SHAPE research team (which brings together counselors, therapists, clinicians, and academics), we will outline what our study’s findings mean for IAEDP Symposium attendees who work with college students. We believe that the unique composition of the U-SHAPE team will allow our presentation to resonate with the diversity of participants at IAEDP.
(4) Interactive discussion
The time is now for higher education and eating disorder specialists to begin communicating more effectively through research and practice. The proposed presentation takes a step in this important direction. The interactive discussion will be centered around what we know and don’t know about college students and eating disorders. We will discuss the challenges in treating college students and the ways that researchers can work more effectively to provide insight that is meaningful for therapists and clinicians. The goal of this interactive discussion will be challenge participants to think about how research, and studies such as U-SHAPE, can do more to inform the work of those who directly treat disordered eating patients.
The theme of this presentation is disordered eating among college students. Though far from a new phenomenon, disordered eating on college campuses today presents an undeniable epidemic, marked by the prevalence, persistence, and high incidence of relapse and morbidity associated with eating disorders. This reality presents both a crisis and an opportunity for new and more effective research and practice.
The proposed presentation will introduce U-SHAPE: University Study of Habits, Attitudes, and Perceptions around Eating, a groundbreaking study designed to explore the ways in which individual and environmental factors influence undergraduate and graduate students’ relationships with eating, dieting, exercising, and body image, and how these relationships, in turn, fit into a larger picture of student mental health. While many studies of college students’ disordered eating have focused on particularly subsets of the campus (e.g. sororities, psychology/nutrition/nursing majors, or female athletes) and have typically drawn findings from relatively small sample sizes, U-SHAPE is unique in its objective to understand the habits and attitudes of all university students through its large-scale design.
The goal of the proposed presentation is to highlight study findings from the first year of U-SHAPE and to engage participants in an interactive discussion around improving our collective response to college students’ disordered eating. Many private providers treat college students yet there remains a disconnect between how institutions of higher education and eating disorder specialists respond to this dynamic student population.
Through the interactive discussion we will shed light on some of the many challenges that make university populations and environments particularly complex in terms of best practices for counseling, programming, education, and outreach for eating disorders. On their own these challenges are not unique to colleges and universities, but taken in whole the complex amalgamation of these factors make campuses an important setting for re-focused attention of clinicians, researchers, therapists, and practitioners.
Sarah is a doctoral student in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. Sarah was a 2012 Active Minds Emerging Scholar and is the inaugural recipient of the Global Foundation for Eating Disorder Research Fellowship. Sarah is a member of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Her primary area of research is disordered eating in the college context. Sarah is passionate about bridging the gaps between research, practice, and policy to improve mental health resources for college students.
Andrea Lawson is a Clinical Social Worker and the Coordinator for Eating Issues at the University of Michigan Counseling & Psychological Services (UM CAPS) and a Clinical Specialist at the Center for Eating Disorders in Ann Arbor, MI. She completed her MSW at Colorado State University and a Post-Masters Fellowship at the University of Michigan. At UM Andrea trains and consults with staff regarding eating disorder assessment and treatment, engages with students and staff around body image prevention initiatives, and continues to be involved in activism to promote a body-positive, size-acceptance, and media-savvy atmosphere in Ann Arbor.
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Suzanne Dooley-Hash, MD
Throughout her career Suzanne has been interested in the impact of mental health, particularly eating and mood disorders and substance abuse, on overall well-being. Suzanne is the medical director of the Center for Eating Disorders in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she provides comprehensive, medical care for the Center’s patients. Suzanne is also active in eating disorder advocacy and education efforts as a member of the Board of Directors for the Binge Eating Disorder Association and as a member of the Academy of Eating Disorders (AED) and the AED Medical Care Special Interest Group.
