Assessment of Eating Disorder and Comorbidity Risk and Resilience in a Nationally Representative Sample of Recent Military Enlistees
Abstract
Eating disorders (EDs) are serious psychiatric disorders that remain understudied, underestimated, and under-treated in active-duty members, despite the increased incidence of EDs in the military in recent years. In 2019, U.S. Congress requested the Government Accountability Office(GAO)investigate the scope and impact of EDs in the military. The GAOs report found that the military's standard ED screening is insufficient for identifying servicemembers with an ED. The GOA noted that the DoD did not have ongoing efforts aimed at preventing EDs among active-duty servicemembers due, in part, to(incorrect)assumptions that the prevalence of EDs was low relative to other medical conditions. The GAO report indicated that no existing screening tools for EDs were developed or tested in military-relevant populations but mentioned that, if successful, our teams 2018 Investigator Initiated Award (#W81XWH-19-1-0207) could fill a critical need for DoD ED screening. The proposed research is, therefore, highly significant because our team successfully developed the first ED screening for use in veterans and we are poised to take the next step toward implementation within the DoD and VA through additional testing inactive-duty servicemembers. Our primary objectives are 1) Test the ability of the BASE to identify military service members who may have an eating, mood, or anxiety disorder (including trauma) compared to existing screeners; 2) Identify military-specific factors that predict (or protect from) the development of ED symptoms; and 3) Elucidate temporal relationships among ED symptoms and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Objectives will be achieved through two studies with a nested-case control design that will recruit a nationally representative sample of service members that have entered the military in the last year. The project is IRB approved and recruitment began in April 2024.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2024
- Accession Number
- AD1229020
Entities
People
- Kelsie Forbush
Organizations
- University of Kansas