Prevalence of eating disorders among Physiotherapy students of the age group 18-25 years

Abstract

Introduction A mental disorder which shows up as abnormal eating habits which negatively affect a person’s physical or mental health is defined as an Eating disorder. Eating disorders include binge eating disorder in which people eat a lot of food in short time. Some others include Anorexia nervosa in which an individual eats little and therefore has little body weight, there is another disorder called bulimia nervosa wherein people eat too much to only try to keep themselves away from the food. The earlier these disorders are diagnosed and assessed, the better the chances are for enhanced treatment and fuller recovery. Therefore, we intended to undertake a study to find out the frequency of such disorders among physiotherapy students of Nashik and if they existed, design strategies to overcome them in future.
Aim
To assess the prevalence of eating disorders in physiotherapy students of the age group 18-25 years in Nashik, Maharashtra
Methods
A cross sectional study was conducted in 80 Physiotherapy students of Nashik. The incidence of Physiotherapy students with eating disorders in Nashik, Maharashtra was found out using validated self-administered questionnaires.
Results
Data was collected using self administered questionnaires, the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26).The data was sorted and analyzed in SPSS version 16. According to EAT-26, 38.25% individuals were found to be at high-risk of eating disorders, with 87.9% females and 12.1% males.
Conclusion
A significant fraction of Physiotherapy students in Nashik are at high risk of development of eating disorders, females being more prone than males. Strategies should be designed to prevent occurrence of such disorders among physiotherapy students in future.