Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional study
Abstract Background Eating disorders (ED) are serious psychiatric disorders characterized by unhealthy eating habits. There is a limited number of studies on eating disorders among female university students in Arab countries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of d...
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doaj-dde09e9324a04039a06e7e65b1a9fec82020-11-24T21:49:10ZengBMCJournal of Eating Disorders2050-29742018-08-01611610.1186/s40337-018-0204-4Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional studyRaghad N. Saleh0Razan A. Salameh1Heba H. Yhya2Waleed M. Sweileh3Department of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityDepartment of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityDepartment of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityDepartment of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityAbstract Background Eating disorders (ED) are serious psychiatric disorders characterized by unhealthy eating habits. There is a limited number of studies on eating disorders among female university students in Arab countries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes (EA) among female students at An-Najah National University, Palestine. Methods A survey study on 2001 female students at An-Najah National University was carried out. The Sick, Control, One Stone, Fat, Food (SCOFF) screening questionnaire and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) were used. Results Of the 2001 participants, 28.6% scored ≥ 20 on the EAT-26 while 38.2% scored ≥ 2 on the SCOFF scale. A significant positive correlation was found between body mass index (BMI) and EAT-26 and SCOFF scores. There was a significant difference in EAT-26 (p < .01) and SCOFF scores (p = .037) between different academic specializations. Female students in non-scientific fields (arts and humanities) obtained higher scores than female students in scientific/medical fields. Age was significantly and negatively correlated with EAT-26 scores but not with SCOFF scores. Approximately 85% of students with scores in the “high risk” category of the EAT-26 scale endorsed the item “I am terrified about being overweight”. Conclusion Awareness regarding appropriate nutrition in relation to body weight is needed among female university students. A general university elective course in this regard might be helpful.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40337-018-0204-4Female studentsPalestineEating disorderSCOFFEAT-26 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Raghad N. Saleh Razan A. Salameh Heba H. Yhya Waleed M. Sweileh |
spellingShingle |
Raghad N. Saleh Razan A. Salameh Heba H. Yhya Waleed M. Sweileh Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional study Journal of Eating Disorders Female students Palestine Eating disorder SCOFF EAT-26 |
author_facet |
Raghad N. Saleh Razan A. Salameh Heba H. Yhya Waleed M. Sweileh |
author_sort |
Raghad N. Saleh |
title |
Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional study |
title_short |
Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional study |
title_full |
Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional study |
title_fullStr |
Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Disordered eating attitudes in female students of An-Najah National University: a cross-sectional study |
title_sort |
disordered eating attitudes in female students of an-najah national university: a cross-sectional study |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
Journal of Eating Disorders |
issn |
2050-2974 |
publishDate |
2018-08-01 |
description |
Abstract Background Eating disorders (ED) are serious psychiatric disorders characterized by unhealthy eating habits. There is a limited number of studies on eating disorders among female university students in Arab countries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes (EA) among female students at An-Najah National University, Palestine. Methods A survey study on 2001 female students at An-Najah National University was carried out. The Sick, Control, One Stone, Fat, Food (SCOFF) screening questionnaire and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) were used. Results Of the 2001 participants, 28.6% scored ≥ 20 on the EAT-26 while 38.2% scored ≥ 2 on the SCOFF scale. A significant positive correlation was found between body mass index (BMI) and EAT-26 and SCOFF scores. There was a significant difference in EAT-26 (p < .01) and SCOFF scores (p = .037) between different academic specializations. Female students in non-scientific fields (arts and humanities) obtained higher scores than female students in scientific/medical fields. Age was significantly and negatively correlated with EAT-26 scores but not with SCOFF scores. Approximately 85% of students with scores in the “high risk” category of the EAT-26 scale endorsed the item “I am terrified about being overweight”. Conclusion Awareness regarding appropriate nutrition in relation to body weight is needed among female university students. A general university elective course in this regard might be helpful. |
topic |
Female students Palestine Eating disorder SCOFF EAT-26 |
url |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40337-018-0204-4 |
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