Future directions for equity-centered body image and eating disorders prevention work

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article concludes the special issue, Identifying and Closing the Gaps in the Prevention of Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders, by reflecting on some of the shared themes as the bases for guiding improvements, if not innovations, in future research. Overall, the articles in this collection highlight the progress achieved within eating disorders prevention in recent years, while addressing many of the existing—and sometimes glaring—gaps within the field. While these manuscripts represent important steps forward, they also offer conceptual frameworks and methodological roadmaps for future developments in the field. Based on prominent themes across those 12 articles, in this conclusion we recommend that future research within eating disorders prevention prioritize equity within research teams, participants, and research approaches. We encourage partnerships with non-academic teams and communities, as well as with multidisciplinary academic colleagues, to ensure that foundational research is directly translatable into program development and implementation, that our prevention efforts are sustainable over time, and that our research development and participating “audiences” include perspectives currently underrepresented in the literature. We also encourage action-based research in which research teams and other stakeholders consider ways to address policy and other systemic factors that lead to body- and appearance-based oppression and inequality.