Eating Disorders Awareness Week is
February 22 to 28, 2009

Top 10 sites of the National Eating Disorders Screening Program 2008

For many students, maintaining a healthy weight and a positive body image can be a challenge during college, especially when academic pressures blend with social expectations. Stress can translate into skipping meals, sleeping poorly or eating out of control.

Eating disorders can be successfully treated and often prevented when an individual seeks help in the early stages. Unfortunately, only 1 in 10 men and women with eating disorders receive treatment, often due to shame or social stigma.

Congratulations to our 2008 top NEDSP sites!

  • University of Northern Colorado
  • Sullivan University
  • Texas Tech University
  • Assumption College
  • University of Michigan at Dearborn
  • Western Kentucky University
  • Riverland Community College
  • University of Arizona
  • Marywood University

To help address this serious health issue, colleges and universities across the country participate each year in the National Eating Disorders Screening Program (NEDSP). Through this program, they provide eating disorders education and screenings for students throughout the year as well as during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, held February 22 – 28, 2009.>

As part of the program, each college receives a kit that includes screening forms and educational materials about anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating disorders as well as healthy eating habits and exercise on campus. Colleges also receive a guide to help them implement and publicize the program in unique and creative ways, along with posters and giveaway items.

This year, NEDSP will once again promote the online screenings through a Facebook social marketing campaign.The 2008 campaign connected 2,465 at students at 309 schools to their college’s online screening website resulting in a 239% increase in the online screening numbers from the week before National Eating Disorders Awareness Week to the week of.Colleges running in person events also had great success – nearly 9,000 people attended in-person events.

NEDSP materials can be utilized throughout the academic year by college health and counseling centers, professors, student groups, athletic teams and Greek organizations. Students interested in bringing the screening program to their college can work with their school’s counseling center or health services center to register for the program.

For more information or to register for the program visit www.mentalhealthscreening.org/college or call 781.239.0071.

© 2010 Screening for Mental Health, Inc.