Research & Practice
Body Positive Week at Seattle Pacific University
There is a very high prevalence of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors among college students. Eating disorder behaviors have increased from 24.4% of college women in 1995 to 32.6% in 2008. There is also high rates of dieting and body dissatisfaction among college students, both of which are risk factors for eating disorder development. Since entering college is associated with an increase in disordered eating behaviors and development of a negative body image, there is a great need for eating disorder prevention efforts.
Body Positive Week (BPW) at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a week dedicated to raising awareness of disordered eating/ eating disorders and promoting self-care, self-compassion, normal eating, and body positivity. This will be the third year for the event and the goal is to expand BPW by adding additional locations for activities and planning and executing impactful activities with a student lead committee, as well as create a more permanent presence on campus by designing and publishing a Body Positive Booklet to be circulated to students year round. Part of the project will also be planning a screening of the documentary Embrace with a panel to facilitate a discussion afterwards.
Materials Available
Project Type(s): MPH Practicum, PH Concentration Poster
Author(s): Natalie Zimmer
Program(s): Master of Public Health, RDN Training
Year: 2018
Adviser(s):