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Aims: The current study sought to determine what factors inhibited psychologists, naturopaths and fitness instructors from detecting an eating disorder (ED), and the discipline differences across these factors. Methods: Participants of the online study were 115 health practitioners who consisted of 35 psychologists, 50 naturopathic and 30 fitness practitioners. A vignette describing a female experiencing a sub‐threshold bulimic variant without purging was presented alongside ED mental health literacy items such as assessing one's ability to detect a problem. Additional items examined factors that may inhibit detection, including practitioners' level of: thin‐ideal internalization, orthorexia, health or fitness mindset (a newly developed scale measuring health and fitness obsessiveness) and gender role identity. Results: A significant number of naturopaths and fitness instructors (20% and 33.3%, respectively) were found to have elevated orthorexia scores. Similarly, psychologists had the greatest tendency to internalize the thin‐ideal (M = 3.60), which was comparable to levels seen in recent research for 20‐ to 21‐year‐old females with EDs. The two largest factors inhibiting ED detection were the strength of a health mindset and gender role identity. Practitioners who had higher health mindset scores or who associated with gender identities higher in masculinity traits (ie, either androgynous or masculine gender roles) were more likely to miss detecting an ED. Conclusions: While many present ED studies focus upon assessing and changing client cognitions, this study emphasizes the need for further research regarding training interventions to address practitioner cognitions and gender role biases, which may in turn improve ED detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Infant Mental Health Journal is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Infant Mental Health Journal is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aims: When it comes to working with eating disorders (EDs), few studies have explored: the clinical practice; service provision barriers; and self‐perceptions of knowledge/skill and the ability to detect EDs in practice against measured ability to do so, of common health providers including psychologists, naturopaths and fitness instructors. Methods: Of the 115 participants, 90.4% were female with a mean age of 40.77 years (SD = 10.80 years) and comprised: 35 psychologists, 50 naturopathic and 30 fitness practitioners. Participants completed a 23‐item survey measuring clinical practice behaviours including assessment and early intervention services, practitioner service barriers, perceived ED knowledge and skill. Results: Only 1 in 20 indicated using standardized surveys to screen for EDs, with 72% indicating reluctance to universally screen clients, with a key barrier being that ED symptoms were typically not the presenting issue. For practitioners who missed detecting EDs in practice, 53.6% indicated this was because weight fell within the normal range or because the client did not present with an ED so they did not think to screen for one (39.29%). In terms of interventions, most (79%) were providing services to clients with EDs, with over one‐third providing weight‐loss advice, potentially contributing to a harmful weight‐centric/dieting treatment approach. Despite most practitioners delivering services, 85.7% felt unable to treat some clients appropriately, primarily due to a lack of skill (52.6%). Conclusions: Further training is imperative to improve universal screening and evidence‐based early intervention practices, which may be particularly helpful for naturopaths and fitness instructors who more commonly perceived their knowledge to be low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Objective To examine whether self-stigma of seeking psychological help and being male would be associated with an increased likelihood of having an undiagnosed eating disorder. Method A multi-national sample of 360 individuals with diagnosed eating disorders and 125 individuals with undiagnosed eating disorders were recruited. Logistic regression was used to identify variables affecting the likelihood of having an undiagnosed eating disorder, including sex, self-stigma of seeking psychological help, and perceived stigma of having a mental illness, controlling for a broad range of covariates. Results Being male and reporting greater self-stigma of seeking psychological help was independently associated with an increased likelihood of being undiagnosed. Further, the association between self-stigma of seeking psychological help and increased likelihood of being undiagnosed was significantly stronger for males than for females. Discussion Perceived stigma associated with help-seeking may be a salient barrier to treatment for eating disorders-particularly among male sufferers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc (Int J Eat Disord 2015; 48:775-778) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The co-occurrence of anger in young people with Asperger's syndrome (AS) has received little attention despite aggression, agitation, and tantrums frequently being identified as issues of concern in this population. The present study investigated the occurrence of anger in young people with AS and explores its relationship with anxiety and depression. Method: Sixty-two young people (12-23 years old) diagnosed with AS were assessed using the Beck Anger Inventory for Youth, Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, and Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale. Results: Among young people with AS who participated in this study, 41% of participants reported clinically significant levels of anger (17%), anxiety (25.8%) and/or depression (11.5%). Anger, anxiety, and depression were positively correlated with each other. Depression, however, was the only significant predictor of anger. Conclusion: Anger is commonly experienced by young people with AS and is correlated with anxiety and depression. These findings suggest that the emotional and behavioral presentation of anger could serve as a cue for further assessment, and facilitate earlier identification and intervention for anger, as well as other mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and theorists (e.g., Shneidman, Stengel, Kovacs, and Beck) hyothesized that suicidal people engage in an internal debate, or struggle, over whether to live or die, but few studies have tested its tenability. This study introduces direct assessment of a suicidal debate, revealing new aspects of suicidal ideation. Results, from an online survey (N= 1,016), showed nearly all suicide-risk respondents engaged in the debate. In addition, debate frequency accounted for 54% of the variance in suicidality scores, and showed significant associations with other indicators of suicide risk. Likely factors of the debate, reasons for living and dying, showed significant differences by suicidality, and most suicide-risk participants reported going online for such purposes, demonstrating a behavioral component of the debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depressive disorders are experienced by 3–5% of the adolescent population at any point of time. They adversely affect adolescent development in a range of areas and greatly increase risk for suicide. The present study investigated the effectiveness of a universal intervention designed to reduce depressive symptoms among students commencing high school. Methods: Twenty-five pairs of secondary schools matched on socio-economic status were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a comparison group ( n = 5,634 Year 8 students). The intervention extended over a 3-year period and utilised a comprehensive classroom curriculum programme, enhancements to the school climate, improvements in care pathways, and community forums. A range of measures completed by students, average age at baseline = 13.1 years ( SD = .5), and teachers was used to assess changes in depressive symptoms, risk and protective factors relevant to depression, and the quality of the school environment. Results: Changes in the level of depressive symptoms and in the levels of risk and protective factors experienced by students in the two groups did not differ significantly over the 3 years of the study. Furthermore, statistically significant differences in the ratings of school climate across this time period were found only for staff-rated assessments. Conclusions: Despite using an extensive, structured programme, based on best evidence to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors at the individual and school levels, the intervention did not reduce levels of depressive symptoms among participating adolescents. The results draw attention to the difficulties faced when implementing large-scale, school-based, universal preventive interventions. These include the need to develop methods to effectively train teachers across large geographical regions to deliver new interventions with fidelity, the difficulty of engaging young adolescents with prevention programmes, and the long period of time required to implement policy and practice changes at ‘whole-school’ levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study examined the validity of a model predicting weight restricting behaviour both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Method Participants comprised 1207 girls aged from 12 to 14 years. The girls completed self-report questionnaires at three time points over 1-year intervals. Results The cross-sectional results suggested that weight preoccupation and body dissatisfaction directly predicted weight restricting behaviour. In addition, upset induced by teasing, depressive symptoms, BMI and negative attributional style demonstrated indirect effects on weight restricting behaviour through their effects on body dissatisfaction and/or weight preoccupation. Longitudinally however, only weight restricting behaviour and body dissatisfaction were significant in the prediction of weight restricting behaviour. Discussion The implications of the results are discussed, together with suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current cross-cultural study was designed to test the validity of a biopsychosocial mediation model which hypothesized that a variety of biological, psychological and social variables would have their mode of action upon eating disturbance through the mediation of body-image dissatisfaction. The biopsychosocial variables examined were body mass, self-esteem, weight-related teasing, previous dieting and sociocultural influences. Forty-eight Hong Kong and 100 Australian females aged 17–28 years were assessed. Results revealed no significant difference between the groups of women in levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance; however, different variables in the biopsychosocial model appeared to have contributed to their predisposition to these conditions. The findings suggest that there appear to exist important cultural differences in various aspects of dieting and body image in young women. Implications for prevention, treatment and future research are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusion: The percentage of schoolchildren with a BMI, calculated from accurate measurements, greater than the 95th percentile exceeded the number in the ACHPER study of a decade earlier in the 12-year-old female and 14-year-old male groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]