People who understand the genetics and biology of anorexia nervosa are less likely to blame people with anorexia for their illness says a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) study. The stigma creates often makes people with anorexia more reluctant to seek treatment causing even more problems.
The study was published Jan.9, 2008 in the online version of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. According to the research cited as background for the study, Anorexia is usually thought of as something that’s under the control of those who suffer from it.
There’s a lot of false information about anorexia nervosa disseminated in pop culture. This study suggests that even a nugget of accurate biological information can influence how health care professionals perceive the illness," said Dr. Cynthia Bulik, director of UNC’s Eating Disorders Program and the study’s senior author.
A questionnaire was given to 115 undergraduate nursing students. Half were given an information sheet that emphasized what is currently known about the biological and genetic contributions to anorexia and the other half received information that emphasized sociocultural explanations for the disease.
The group given the sociocultural information primarily agreed that parenting, vanity and lack of social support were causes of anorexia and people with anorexia are to blame for their condition. Those who were given minimal information about the biological and genetic underpinnings tended to blame people with anorexia far less.
"It opens up new horizons for accurate information campaigns to help the public understand that people with anorexia nervosa are not to blame for their illness and that biology plays a role," Bulik said.
Source; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; http://www.unc.edu
Your comments please. Does this study change your outlook regarding anorexia?
To your successful living.
Ruthan Brodsky
Business Writing and Marketing Communications
For Health Care Providers
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