Eating disorder prevention is an integral part of keeping the body healthy. As defined by the Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention, Inc., prevention is "is any systematic attempt to change the circumstances that promote, sustain, or intensify problems" (Taylor, 1999). There are different levels of prevention, such as primary and secondary. Secondary prevention has to do with dealing with the problem in the early stages of development before it gets out of hand. The prevention that is necessary to curb eating disorders is primary. Primary prevention is teaching healthful ways of living and changing the poor health habits that may plague a person (Taylor, 1999). Such preventative measures may be school-based or community-based programs.
It is no wonder why prevention of eating disorders is needed. With all of the negative influences of what body types "should" be, such as what is portrayed in the media, everyone is impacted. Those most heavily influenced are young, impressionable children. According to the February, 1996 article in The Journal of School Health, in the United States eating disorders place third overall in the most common chronic illness in adolescent females. There are treatment programs for overcoming a disorder such as anorexia or bulimia, but those have proven to be very expensive and not as effective as one would hope. As with anorexia, less than half of those that seek treatment fully recover and about one third persist with their unhealthy habits. Therefore, prevention of the disease would be a better route.
One of the prevention programs is school-based. There are many factors that contribute to the development of an eating disorder such as environmental, cognitive, behavioral, genetic, psychological, and familial. Each of those factors are addressed to a degree of which is appropriate in the school setting. .
There are many different ways that prevention can be incorporated into the student's lives.