Healthy Sport Project; Preventing Eating Disorders in Sport

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious illnesses with highest incidence in adolescents. Moreover, athletes have a higher frequency of symptoms of disordered eating (DE) and EDs than non-athletes. There are many reasons to this health issue, but body appearance pressure, competing in body mass sensitive sports, and comments on body appearance are important explanations. Few programs have proved effective in preventing DE and EDs in the general population, or in athletes specifically, and none is permanent operative in sports in Norway. Body Project by prof Eric Stice have proved effective in preventing body dissatisfaction, figure idealization and new onset of EDs in female adolescents above 15 years of age, and with body dissatisfaction, from the general population. A few attempts to adapt this program to female athletes, argue for a comparative positive effect. Three important elements to further address, are: 1) programs need also to be tested in males; 2) programs need to be tested in adolescents of younger age before the typical onset of an ED; and 3) programs need to be possible to administer by non-professionals.

In this study the research group aim to adapt and test the effect of the Body Project, by the pilot study the "Healthy Sport Project", in elite junior athletes attending specialized junior sport high schools (age 14). The final goal for this project group is to create an effective preventive program for body dissatisfaction and DE/EDs in young athletes of both sexes and in mixed sports, and which may be administered by the schoolteachers.