The influence of a primary prevention program on eating-related attitudes of Israeli female middle-school students

The present study aimed to assess the impact of a primary prevention program on eating-related attitudes in 231 female 7th graders at baseline and following a six-session prevention program. Fifty-nine 7th grade control females received six unstructured lectures about adolescence. One hundred and three experimental students and 37 controls were re-evaluated after one year. Among the participants in the prevention program, there was a significant post-intervention and one-year improvement in the total score of the eating-related attitudinal Treatment Efficacy Scale (TES) and in several of its domains. Whereas no change occurred in the attitudes of the controls at post-intervention, some improvement was shown in several TES domains after one year, compared to baseline. Attitudinal changes were significantly more favorable in the prevention program participants than in the controls both at post-intervention and at one-year follow-up. These findings suggest that eating-related attitudes of female middle-school students may improve following a primary prevention program, with some of these improvements persisting after one year.