APPENDIX 5 - PREVENTION GUIDELINE FOR EDUCATORS

Research indicates that teaching students about eating disorders may be harmful since some students might learn to glamorize disturbed eating behaviours

Instead, teach students health promotion strategies such as:

• Healthy lifestyle skills (healthy eating, active living and self-acceptance)

• Media literacy skills

• Positive life skills (assertive communication, stress management, relationship skills)

• Ways to cope with sexual harassment and weight and shape teasing

A comprehensive approach to prevention includes intervening at multiple levels

• Awareness raising among parents and teachers about their own attitudes concerning weight and shape, and the influence their eating and physical activity practices have on their children

• School environments that provide adequate time and space for meals, discourage starve-a-thons, and promote zero-tolerance for weight and shape teasing

• Opportunities to empower girls during early adolescence to prevent predictable drops in self-esteem (e.g. support groups)

• Increased tolerance for natural increases in weight and body fat among girls and boys experiencing the physical changes of puberty

• Consistency in health promotion messages in the community

For more information about prevention strategies contact:
The Ontario Community Outreach Program for Eating Disorders
1 (800) 463-1856