Abstract :
This commentary offers a critical evaluation of the Body Logic Program for the prevention of eating disorders (Varnado-Sullivan et al., 2001). This ambitious project was designed to affect middle-school students in general (universal prevention), as well as high-risk students and their parents (selective prevention). The evaluation includes a consideration of, and appreciation for, the challenges of this type of research, what the researchers accomplished in the way of universal prevention, and the nature of the project as seen in the context of three different models of prevention. Ways that this type of prevention program could be improved and expanded are discussed. Special attention is given to various forms of participatory action designed to engage students, teachers, parents, and other adults in the process of changing group and community norms so as to reduce negative sociocultural effects on female body images and to foster personal and collective resilience in the participants.
