Abstract
BackgroundEating 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.MethodsA 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.ResultsOf 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”.ConclusionAwareness 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.
Highlights
Eating disorders (ED) are serious psychiatric disorders characterized by unhealthy eating habits
Academic specializations, and body weight were important factors associated with disordered eating attitude
The current study showed that there was a significant correlation between body mass index (BMI) and both Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) score and SCOFF score
Summary
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. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes (EA) among female students at An-Najah National University, Palestine. In the Middle East and in many Arabic countries obesity is prevalent. Saleh et al Journal of Eating Disorders (2018) 6:16 for disordered eating attitudes [5, 6], it is expected that EDs are increasing in Arab populations. A literature search using SciVerse Scopus indicated that there are 19 published articles on eating disorders among women in Arab countries [7, 8]. Studies from the USA and European countries indicated that female university students had a high prevalence of EDs [11, 12]. Examples of useful scales for detection of EDs include the Sick, Control, One stone, Fat, Food (SCOFF) [17,18,19,20,21] and Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) [22, 23] which can facilitate screening and early detection of EDs among college students [17, 20]
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