Impact of an eating disorder intervention utilizing the health belief model on implementation of secondary prevention measures among dentists.

NEED FOR THE STUDY: Eating disorders are
actually serious and often fatal illnesses that are associated with severe
disturbances in people’s eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions.

Types of eating disorders

The most common eating disorders are:

•       Anorexia nervosa – trying to control your weight by not eating enough food, exercising too much, or doing both

•       Bulimia nervosa â€“ losing control over how much you eat and then taking drastic action to not put on weight

•       Binge Eating Disorder (BED) â€“ eating large portions of food until you feel uncomfortably full

Other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED)

A person may have an OSFED if their symptoms do not exactly fit the expected symptoms for any specific eating disorders.

OSFED is the most common eating disorder [7]

A central role for the dentist is screening and early diagnosis or oral manifestations that may be linked to various behavioral & medical disorders.

The literature contains little information about the role of dentists in the secondary prevention of eating disorders. These secondary prevention practices help reduce the likelihood of the development of a full-blown eating disorder via early intervention. [1] Along with early identification, referral by the dentists to other specialist such as psychologists and medical professionals is also necessary. [2]

Failure by the dentists to identify these oral manifestations may lead to more serious systemic problems & irreversible damage to the body. [3] Early detection & prompt treatment is crucial in cases of disordered eating as mortality is a possible outcome if the patient is left untreated. A study, conducted in Italy in 2022, utilizing data from 1994-2018, reported 1.72% mortality rate over a 7.4 years of follow up. [6]

Therefore, institutions must include efforts geared toward education of dental practitioners regarding eating disorders. Dentists must also be assessed for their current educational status regarding eating disorders and programmes must be included in their curricula for the improvement of their knowledge. [2]

The health belief model (Rosenstock et al., 1988) is very useful in assessing a person’s inaction or noncompliance to a certain behavior. The significance of this theory is that it explains health behaviors and identifies leverage points for change. [2]

 This study is conducted to assess the dentists’ baseline levels of implementation of secondary prevention measures for eating disorders based on Health Belief Model and check the improvement post intervention, which is based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM V

 This study is conducted to assess the dentists’ baseline levels of implementation of secondary prevention measures for eating disorders based on Health Belief Model and check the improvement post intervention, which is based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM V.

 AIM:

To assess the impact of an eating disorder intervention on the implementation of secondary prevention measures.

OBJECTIVES:

1.     To assess the self-rated general knowledge about eating disorders

2.     To assess the dentists’ current levels of implementation of secondary prevention measures for eating disorders based on Health Belief Model.

3.     To assess the dentists’ levels of implementation of secondary prevention measures for eating disorders after the intervention based on Health Belief Model.

METHODOLOGY:

1.     Step 1: recruiting of the dental practitioners as per the inclusion criteria

2.     Step 2: assessment of their current levels of implementation of secondary prevention measures for eating disorders based on Health Belief Model.

3.     Step 3: intervention based on DSM V

4.     Step 4: assessment of the dentists’ levels of implementation of secondary prevention measures for eating disorders after the intervention based on Health Belief Model