Using feminist poststructuralist and postcolonial lenses, I explore how young Lebanese-Canadian women construct health, obesity, and the body within the context of the dominant obesity discourse, which over-emphasizes supposed links between inactivity, nutrition, obesity, and health. Participant-centered conversations were held with 20 young Lebanese-Canadian women between the ages of 18 and 25. The conversational texts were analyzed according to two consecutive methods: a thematic analysis which allowed us to focus on what the participants had to say about health, obesity, and the body followed by a poststructuralist discourse analysis which helped us to decipher how the participants spoke about these topics. The findings of this study attest that the young women construct health, obesity, and the body as matters of individual responsibility. They speak about achieving health and avoiding overweight/obesity through disciplinary practices such as rigorous physical activity and proper dietary restrictions. The participants also construct health in close linkage with the physical appearance of the body; moreover, they conflate the “healthy” and “ideal” female body, which they represent as thin. As such, the young women reject “fat” and portray obesity as a disease, a matter of lack of will, and an “abnormal” physical appearance. Finally, the young Lebanese-Canadian women report their involvement in various practices such as restriction of the quality and quantity of their nutritional intake, rare and non-organized forms of physical activity, and problematic practices such as the use of detoxes, dieting pills, and compulsive exercise, all in the name of health. Throughout this study, I highlight the participants’ multiple and shifting subjectivities: While the young Lebanese-Canadian women most often construct themselves as free neoliberal subjects re-citing elements of dominant neoliberal discourses (of self-authorship, self-responsibility for health, traditional femininity, and obesity), they at times construct themselves as “poststructuralist” subjects showing awareness of, and “micro-resistance” to such discourses. The impacts of the Lebanese and Lebanese-Canadian cultures on the participants’ constructions of health, obesity, and the body comprise an important part of this thesis. The participants accentuate the major importance of beauty and physical appearance—particularly not being fat—in the Lebanese and Lebanese-Canadian cultures. However, they also attempt to distance themselves from “Lebanese” ways of thinking about health, obesity, and the body, and in doing so they replicate homogeneous representations of Lebanese, Lebanese-Canadian, and Canadian women. I offer practical suggestions to inform health and obesity interventions that target Lebanese-Canadian women and women from ethnic minorities and I discuss future research possibilities that may stem from the present thesis.

The first aim of this study was to develop a research based, integrated, secondary prevention programme, called the Weight Over-concern and Well-being (WOW) programme, for the reduction of Subclinical Eating Disorder (SED) symptoms, associated traits and negative mood states, and the promotion of psychological well-being (PWB) in female students. Consequently the second aim was to determine the effectiveness of the WOW-programme on its own, in comparison with a combined Tomatis Method of sound stimulation (Tomatis, 1990) and WOW-programme, regarding the reduction of SED-symptoms, associated traits and negative mood states; the promotion of PWB; and outcome maintenance. The last aim was to obtain a deeper understanding and "insiders' perspective" of the lived experience of SED, through an interpretative phenomenological inquiry (Smith & Osborn, 2003). The motivation for the current study is a need for research based, integrated, risk-protective, secondary prevention programmes from a social-developmental perspective for female university students (Garner, 2004; Phelps, Sapia, Nathanson & Nelson, 2000; Polivy & Herman, 2002), given their risk status (Edwards & Moldan, 2004; Senekal, Steyn, Mashego & Nel, 2001; Wassenaar, Le Grange, Winship & Lachenicht, 2000). Concurrently in-depth descriptions from an "insiders' perspective" on the lived experience of SED are non-existent and require interpretative phenomenological study (Brocki & Wearden, 2006). Consequently this thesis consists of three articles, namely: (i) Development of a secondary prevention programme for female university students with Subclinical Eating Disorder, (ii) A secondary prevention programme for female students with Subclinical Eating Disorder: a comparative evaluation; and (iii) Lived experiences of Subclinical Eating Disorder: female students' perceptions. The research context comprised Subclinical Eating Disorder, secondary prevention and Positive Psychology. The first article, Development of a secondary prevention programme for female university students with Subclinical Eating Disorder (Kirsten, Du Plessis & Du Toit, 2007a), is qualitative in nature, and narrates a process of participatory action research followed to develop the WOW-programme. This social process of knowledge construction, embedded in Social Constructivist theory (Koch, Selim & Kralik, 2002), gradually revealed best clinical practice, and in retrospect, evolved over four phases. Phase One comprised experiential learning based on personal experiences with SED as undergraduate student and interaction with "participant researchers" as scientist practitioner (Strieker, 2002), resulting in a provisional risk model of intervention. Phase Two, a formal pilot study (Du Plessis, Vermeulen & Kirsten, 2004), afforded an evaluation of ideas generated in Phase One through a three-group pre-post-test design. Outcomes of Phase Two informed Phase Three, an integration of prior learning with Positive Psychology theory and clinical practice, resulting in a risk-protective model of prevention. Theoretical assumptions previously constructed were integrated and operationalised during Phase Four, into the final 9-session WOW-programme. In conclusion the process of knowledge construction was rigorous, despite the small overall sample size (n=28), since data saturation occurred within that sample. Although the multitude of aims involved in each session of the WOW-programme could be seen as unrealistic, in some direct or indirect way, they were addressed by means of relevant interventions due to the integrative approach. Thus future refinement is essential. Finally, despite aforementioned concerns, the WOW-programme proved to be robust on its own in reducing SED-symptoms and associated traits and enhancing PWB, as described in the second article of this thesis. The second article, A secondary prevention programme for female students with Subclinical Eating Disorder: a comparative evaluation (Kirsten, Du Plessis & Du Toit, 2007b), describes the outcomes of the WOW-programme on its own, evaluated comparatively with a combined Tomatis sound stimulation and WOW-programme. In this article the research aims were to determine: (i) whether participation in the combined sound stimulation and WOW-programme (Group 1); and (ii) participation in a WOW-programme only (Group 2), would lead to statistically significant reductions in SED-symptoms, psychological traits associated with eating disorders and negative mood states, and enhancement of PWB; (iii) whether results of Groups 1 and 2 would exceed results of a non-intervention control group (Group 3) practically significantly; and (iv) whether programme outcomes for Groups 1 and 2 would be retained at four-month follow-up evaluation. A mixed method design (Creswell, 2003; Morse, 2003) was used, including a three-group pre-post-test (n=45) and multiple case study (n=30) design. Various questionnaires measuring SED-symptoms, associated traits, negative mood states and PWB were completed. Qualitative data were obtained by means of metaphor drawings, letters to and from the "SED-problem", focus group interviews, the researchers' reflective field notes and individual semi-structured feedback questionnaires (Morse, 2003). Participation in Groups 1 and 2 proved effective, since decreases in SED-symptoms, associated traits, most negative mood states, and increases in PWB differed practically significantly from the results of Group 3. Outcomes for Groups 1 and 2 were maintained at four-month follow-up evaluation. Qualitative findings provided depth, support and trustworthiness to quantitative findings in light of the small sample size, and highlighted the value of using a mixed method design in prevention programming. It was concluded that the WOW-programme on its own, was an effective secondary prevention programme, since it led to reduced SED-symptoms, associated psychological traits and enhanced PWB, with retention of gains at four-months follow-up evaluation. The combined programme involving Tomatis stimulation and WOW-intervention proved to be even more effective, thus the complimentary role of Tomatis stimulation was demonstrated. However, the cost-effectiveness and comparative brevity of the WOW-programme rendered it the programme of choice regarding individuals with SED. Findings showed that conceptually, pathogenic and salutogenic perspectives can be successfully combined into a risk-protective model of secondary prevention. Lastly, the WOW-programme may even prove useful as an enrichment programme for female students in general. The third article, Lived experiences of Subclinical Eating Disorder: female students' perceptions (Kirsten, Du Plessis & Du Toit, 2007c), provides a qualitative, in-depth perspective on the lived experience of SED of 30 white, undergraduate females, purposively sampled. In this interpretative phenomenological, multiple case study (Brocki & Wearden, 2006), Groups 1 and 2 of the aforementioned primary study in the second article were used, since they fitted the criteria of "good informants" and were able to answer the research question (Morse, 2003). Further sampling was deemed unnecessary since data saturation occurred within their written and verbal responses and no negative cases were found. Rich individual qualitative data, further clarified through focus groups, emerged from graphic colour representations of lived SED, explanatory written records and "correspondence" with and from their "SED problem" (Gilligan, 2000; Loock, Myburgh, & Poggenpoel, 2003; White & Epston, 1990). Four main categories, characterised by serious intra-, interpersonal, existential and body image concerns were subdivided into seven subcategories, namely: Personal Brokenness, Personal Shame, Perceived Personal Inadequacy and Enslavement, Existential Vacuum, Perceived Social Pressure, Perceived Social Isolation and Body-image Dysfunction. Results were indicative of underestimation of SED-severity, its comprehensive detrimental impact on participants' PWB and high risk for escalation into full-blown eating disorders. It was concluded that the lived experiences of SED depicted the severity of SED-symptoms; descriptions resonated well with most of their pre-programme mean scores; and their risk status and need for contextually and developmentally relevant secondary prevention programmes were highlighted by the findings. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Using feminist poststructuralist and postcolonial lenses, I explore how young Lebanese-Canadian women construct health, obesity, and the body within the context of the dominant obesity discourse, which over-emphasizes supposed links between inactivity, nutrition, obesity, and health. Participant-centered conversations were held with 20 young Lebanese-Canadian women between the ages of 18 and 25. The conversational texts were analyzed according to two consecutive methods: a thematic analysis which allowed us to focus on what the participants had to say about health, obesity, and the body followed by a poststructuralist discourse analysis which helped us to decipher how the participants spoke about these topics. The findings of this study attest that the young women construct health, obesity, and the body as matters of individual responsibility. They speak about achieving health and avoiding overweight/obesity through disciplinary practices such as rigorous physical activity and proper dietary restrictions. The participants also construct health in close linkage with the physical appearance of the body; moreover, they conflate the “healthy” and “ideal” female body, which they represent as thin. As such, the young women reject “fat” and portray obesity as a disease, a matter of lack of will, and an “abnormal” physical appearance. Finally, the young Lebanese-Canadian women report their involvement in various practices such as restriction of the quality and quantity of their nutritional intake, rare and non-organized forms of physical activity, and problematic practices such as the use of detoxes, dieting pills, and compulsive exercise, all in the name of health. Throughout this study, I highlight the participants’ multiple and shifting subjectivities: While the young Lebanese-Canadian women most often construct themselves as free neoliberal subjects re-citing elements of dominant neoliberal discourses (of self-authorship, self-responsibility for health, traditional femininity, and obesity), they at times construct themselves as “poststructuralist” subjects showing awareness of, and “micro-resistance” to such discourses. The impacts of the Lebanese and Lebanese-Canadian cultures on the participants’ constructions of health, obesity, and the body comprise an important part of this thesis. The participants accentuate the major importance of beauty and physical appearance—particularly not being fat—in the Lebanese and Lebanese-Canadian cultures. However, they also attempt to distance themselves from “Lebanese” ways of thinking about health, obesity, and the body, and in doing so they replicate homogeneous representations of Lebanese, Lebanese-Canadian, and Canadian women. I offer practical suggestions to inform health and obesity interventions that target Lebanese-Canadian women and women from ethnic minorities and I discuss future research possibilities that may stem from the present thesis.

Submitted by Rosangela Silva (rosangela.silva3@unioeste.br) on 2018-05-22T14:47:40Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Isabela Karolina Gomes Ferreira Oliveira.pdf: 818784 bytes, checksum: 1fd28f628fa862d08b1b7f8de14bc6d4 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-22T14:47:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Isabela Karolina Gomes Ferreira Oliveira.pdf: 818784 bytes, checksum: 1fd28f628fa862d08b1b7f8de14bc6d4 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research has the objective of reflecting on the problematic related to the cult of the body that hangs, impositively, on the feminine universe. For this, based on the theoretical-methodological advice of the French-Speech Discourse Analysis, in terms of empirical observation data, the study draws on Discursive Sequences (DSs) from ex-chubby testimonials published by Women’s Health Brazil magazine. As specific objectives, we seek to: 1) Investigate the alleged relationship of "logical" consequence created by the magazine between the possession of a "fat" body and the suffering of certain "disadvantages", 2) To analyze the supposed "logical" consequence relation created by it between the “conquest” of a lean body and the attainment of certain “benefits”? and 3) To verify the position of the “ex-chubby” in relation to its old/current body and, more polemically: it is sought to understand the extent to which the "ex-chubby" in fact assume the discourse they say spokespersons. The chapters of analysis are intended to contemplate these questions. Therefore, in the first one, it is sought to show how the fat body is discursive by the deponents and one can perceive that the affirmations of them corroborate a reading of derogatory, demeritory and pejorative bias. On the other hand, in the second, it is verified that the lean body discursed by the “ex-chubby” receives another sense, since it is characterized as positive and beneficial. Finally, in the last chapter of the analysis, the objective is to understand to what extent the discourses about the lean body and the fat body are affectively assumed by them, since there are marks of a ritual that fails in terms of attending discursive predictability. In this chapter, in particular, it is evident how the female body is subjected to an imperative (or propagating) industry of thinness that directly affects women and their corporeality. / Esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de refletir sobre a problemática relativa ao culto do corpo que sobrepaira, impositivamente, sobre o universo feminino. Para isso, com base no dispositivo teórico-metodológico da Análise de Discurso de orientação francesa, em termos de dados empíricos de observação, o estudo se vale de Sequências Discursivas (SDs) retiradas de depoimentos de “ex-gordinhas” publicados pela revista Women’s Health Brasil. Como objetivos específicos, procurase: 1) Investigar a suposta relação de consequência “lógica” criada pela revista entre a posse de um corpo “gordo” e o sofrimento de certas “desvantagens”, 2) Analisar a suposta relação de consequência “lógica” criada por ela entre a “conquista” de um corpo magro e o alcance de determinados “benefícios” e 3) Verificar qual é o posicionamento das “ex-gordinhas” em relação ao seu corpo antigo/atual e, mais polemicamente: busca-se perceber até que ponto as “ex-gordinhas” assumem, de fato, o discurso de que se dizem porta-vozes. Os capítulos de análises têm como intuito contemplar esses objetivos. Assim sendo, no primeiro, busca-se mostrar como o corpo gordo é discursivizado pelas depoentes e se pode perceber que as afirmações delas corroboram para uma leitura de viés depreciativo, demeritório e pejorativo. Em contrapartida, no segundo, verifica-se que o corpo magro discursivizado pelas “ex-gordinhas” recebe outro sentido, uma vez que é caracterizado como positivo e benéfico. Por fim, no último capítulo de análise, objetiva-se perceber até que ponto os discursos a respeito do corpo magro e do corpo gordo são efetivamente assumidos por elas, uma vez que há marcas de um ritual que falha em termos de atender à previsibilidade discursiva. Neste capítulo, em especial, evidencia-se como o corpo feminino é submetido a uma indústria imperativa (ou propagadora) da magreza que influi, diretamente, sobre as mulheres e a sua corporalidade.

Using feminist poststructuralist and postcolonial lenses, I explore how young Lebanese-Canadian women construct health, obesity, and the body within the context of the dominant obesity discourse, which over-emphasizes supposed links between inactivity, nutrition, obesity, and health. Participant-centered conversations were held with 20 young Lebanese-Canadian women between the ages of 18 and 25. The conversational texts were analyzed according to two consecutive methods: a thematic analysis which allowed us to focus on what the participants had to say about health, obesity, and the body followed by a poststructuralist discourse analysis which helped us to decipher how the participants spoke about these topics. The findings of this study attest that the young women construct health, obesity, and the body as matters of individual responsibility. They speak about achieving health and avoiding overweight/obesity through disciplinary practices such as rigorous physical activity and proper dietary restrictions. The participants also construct health in close linkage with the physical appearance of the body; moreover, they conflate the “healthy” and “ideal” female body, which they represent as thin. As such, the young women reject “fat” and portray obesity as a disease, a matter of lack of will, and an “abnormal” physical appearance. Finally, the young Lebanese-Canadian women report their involvement in various practices such as restriction of the quality and quantity of their nutritional intake, rare and non-organized forms of physical activity, and problematic practices such as the use of detoxes, dieting pills, and compulsive exercise, all in the name of health. Throughout this study, I highlight the participants’ multiple and shifting subjectivities: While the young Lebanese-Canadian women most often construct themselves as free neoliberal subjects re-citing elements of dominant neoliberal discourses (of self-authorship, self-responsibility for health, traditional femininity, and obesity), they at times construct themselves as “poststructuralist” subjects showing awareness of, and “micro-resistance” to such discourses. The impacts of the Lebanese and Lebanese-Canadian cultures on the participants’ constructions of health, obesity, and the body comprise an important part of this thesis. The participants accentuate the major importance of beauty and physical appearance—particularly not being fat—in the Lebanese and Lebanese-Canadian cultures. However, they also attempt to distance themselves from “Lebanese” ways of thinking about health, obesity, and the body, and in doing so they replicate homogeneous representations of Lebanese, Lebanese-Canadian, and Canadian women. I offer practical suggestions to inform health and obesity interventions that target Lebanese-Canadian women and women from ethnic minorities and I discuss future research possibilities that may stem from the present thesis.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the association between body mass index as well as race/ethnicity and established correlates of disordered eating including drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, bulimia, dietary restraint and social physique anxiety in male and female college students. Difference between actual, desirable and perceived body weight was also assessed. ANOVA suggested that as actual body mass index increased, in general, attitudes and behavior toward weight, body shape and eating increased. A two-tailed t-test suggested that males and females differed significantly with regards to attitudes and behavior toward weight body shape and eating. ANOVA indicated that little to no association existed between race/ethnicity and established correlates of disordered eating.

No description available.

Research suggests that, similar to individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, people with Anorexia Nervosa demonstrate an inability to utilize Theory of Mind concepts. Theory of Mind allows healthy control populations to attribute mental states to others by accurately predicting and understanding the behavior of others. This study's intent was to further explore the relationship between eating disorders and Theory of Mind. Using an online survey management system (Qualtrics), 210 female students from a large metropolitan southeastern university completed the Drive for Thinness subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task. It was predicted that higher Drive for Thinness would be associated with a diminished capacity for Theory of Mind concepts. Using a bivariate correlation, the findings were not found to be statistically significant in support of the hypothesis, but provide strong implications for future research.

The purpose of this literature review was to find common factors for the persons who predispose to eating disorders. These factors shall help the nurse to recognise early signs of eating disorder behaviors. The literature review is directed to the nurse and will answer the issue: Which groups in the community run the risk of developing eating disorders? Furthermore, this knowledge shall lead to a better understanding of persons having eating disorders and be used as an aid in his/her encounter with these patients. The method was a literature review based on eight scientific articles, which were interpreted on the basis of the competence of the nurse. The results indicated that persons with eating disorders had a very low self-esteem and a low body image. At the same time, it appeared that these persons with an anorectic behavior had put high demands on themselves. The results also indicated that an eating disorder behavior in adult age often had its origin in the childhood. / Syftet med litteraturstudien var att kartlägga gemensamma faktorer hos de personer som predisponerar för ätstörningar. Dessa faktorer ska vara till hjälp för sjuksköterskan att känna igen tidiga tecken på ett ätstörningsbeteende. Litteraturstudien riktar sig till allmänsjuksköterskan och ska besvara frågeställningen: Vilka grupper i samhället ligger i riskzonen för ätstörningar? Vidare skall denna kunskap leda till ökad förståelse för de personer som lider av ätstörningar och användas som ett hjälpmedel i hans/hennes möte med dessa patienter. Metoden var en litteraturstudie baserad på åtta vetenskapliga artiklar som tolkades utifrån allmänsjuksköterskans kompetensområde. Resultatet visade att personer med ätstörningar hade en väldigt låg självkänsla och dålig kroppsuppfattning. Det framkom samtidigt att personer med ett anorektiskt beteende hade stora krav på sig själva. Resultatet visade också att ett ätstörningsbeteende i vuxen ålder oftast hade sina rötter i barndomen.

Cette thèse a pour objectif l’examen des conséquences de la stigmatisation du surpoids chez les jeunes femmes qui se perçoivent en surpoids (que cette perception soit justifiée ou non) via le phénomène de menace du stéréotype (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Nous proposons que des contextes menaçants, en lien avec les stéréotypes négatifs qui portent sur les comportements alimentaires des personnes en surpoids, peuvent biaiser l’estimation que ces femmes font des aliments et augmenter leur consommation d’aliments réconfortants. Les études expérimentales de ce travail doctoral confirment ces hypothèses : leurs résultats indiquent que plus les femmes pensent avoir un excès de poids, (i) moins elles réussissent à estimer la teneur calorique des aliments et à sélectionner les plats en fonction de leurs valeurs nutritionnelles, et (ii) plus elles consomment d’aliments gras et sucrés. Nous investiguons également le rôle médiateur des émotions (et notamment celui de l’anxiété) ainsi que sur celui de la réduction des ressources disponibles en mémoire de travail dans ces effets. Si nos études ne permettent pas d’affirmer l’implication de mécanismes émotionnels, une de nos études met en cause la diminution des ressources en mémoire de travail.Bien que d’autres études ont déjà fait état des conséquences de la menace du stéréotype lié au surpoids chez les personnes objectivement en surpoids (e.g., Brochu & Dovidio, 2014), les études de cette thèse sont les premières à mettre en évidence les conséquences de ce phénomène chez les femmes qui se perçoivent en surpoids, et à confirmer qu’il est nécessaire de prendre en compte cette variable dans l’étude des conséquences de la stigmatisation du surpoids. / This thesis aims to examine the consequences the stigma of overweight among young women who perceive themselves as overweight (whether this perception is justified or not), via the phenomenon of stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995). We propose that threatening contexts (in which negative stereotypes are about the eating behaviours of overweight people are activated), can (i) bias overweight self-perceived women's nutritional values assessment, and thus lead them to select dishes that are not adapted to their needs, and (ii) increase their consumption of comfort food. The experimental studies of this doctoral work tend to confirm these hypotheses: their results indicate that the more young women think they are overweight, (i) the less successful they are at estimating the calorie content of foods and selecting dishes on the basis of their nutritional values, (ii) the more they consume fatty and sugary foods. We also investigate the roles of emotions (especially anxiety) and working memory resources in these effects. Although our studies do not allow us to assert the involvement of emotional mechanisms, one of our studies underlines the role of a decrease in working memory resources. While other studies have already reported the deleterious consequences of overweight stereotype threat in objectively overweight individuals (e.g., Brochu & Dovidio, 2014), ours are the first to report on the consequences of this phenomenon in overweight self-perceived women, and confirm that weight perception must be taken into account in studies on the negative health consequences associated with weight stigma.