Increasing Eating Disorders among Female Adolescents and Young Adults in Houston, Texas and Implementing Prevention

PAR
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PAR
The PAR, in this case, is eating disorders amongst female adolescents and young adults living in Houston, Texas, aged between 15 and 24. The population is at risk owing to poor eating habits that lead to the development of lifestyle diseases common in the world today. Nutrition is the first approach to primary health promotions.
Community-Based Diagnosis
Increasing risk of eating disorders amongst female adolescents and young adults living in Houston, Texas. The problem is related to body image and food security issues demonstrated by a poverty rate of 20.1% and a food insecurity rate of 5.4%.
Intervention Strategy - Education
The population of Houston is 2,310,432, and the at-risk population is 317,304. The figure translates to 13.7% of the population. According to research, about 5.4% of children lack significant access to grocery stores within Houston. The city completed its health assessment and formulated its goals in 2019. One of the goals was to increase access to healthy foods. There is sufficient evidence that suggests that food insecurity can increase the chances of eating disorders amongst adolescents. The condition is also a contributor to the development of mental health disorders.
Eating disorders are more prevalent than previously thought. The condition starts early, and very often, the identified at-risk populations suffer complications from medical and psychiatric comorbidities (Rutsztein et al., 2019). Thus, people affected by these disorders, at different stages of growth and with varying levels of impairment, circulate through primary, secondary, and tertiary care services. In addition, the locations of care for these patients, due to the peculiarities, are diverse - pediatric services, adolescents, and adults (Warschburger & Zitzmann, 2018). That is, there are overlap and confusion between the levels and places of care, wasting precious time at the expense of early diagnosis and good therapeutic referrals. There is a need for a participatory approach to raising public awareness of eating disorders, the prevention of the problem, early diagnosis, and proper treatment of the already identified at-risk populations.
The primary prevention strategy aims at providing bo...