The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- September 27, 1999

Sports Sciences Education Newsletter

Two campus-based programs to offer education on eating disorders, alcohol

BY NANCY L. DEUTSCH AND ANNE S. KELIHER

Student-athletes will have the opportunity to participate in two campus-based health education and screening programs to ensure a winning performance in 2000. For the first time, colleges will be able to conduct screenings for both eating disorders and alcohol problems in the same school year. The National Eating Disorders Screening Program will take place February 14-18 and National Alcohol Screening Day will take place April 6. Student-athletes will be a target audience of both programs since they are both more vulnerable to eating disorders and alcohol problems and, due to their influence on campus, can model healthy eating, drinking and exercise behavior for other students.

In February 1998, more than 500 colleges participated in the second National Eating Disorders Screening Program (NEDSP), reaching a total of nearly 50,000 college students nationwide. More than 4,600 student-athletes were screened through the program. In addition, 10 percent of those screened participated in intramural sports and 24 percent in recreational athletics. Participants learned about the dangers of disordered eating, the signs and symptoms of eating disorders, the importance of good nutrition and healthy, but not obsessive, exercise, and how disordered eating can harm athletic performance and capacity. In addition, both coaches and team members learned how they can help themselves or a team member get treatment for an eating disorder.

Results from the program indicate that NEDSP is successful in motivating individuals with eating disorders to seek treatment as well as in changing unhealthy eating attitudes and behaviors. Some 5,000 people entered treatment as a result of the program and nearly 30 percent of those who were screened noted an improvement in their eating attitudes or behaviors following NEDSP. The sponsorship of the NCAA, as well as USA Gymnastics, the American College Health Association, and the National Panhellenic Conference, has helped make NEDSP an important part of the health education efforts of colleges nationwide, as well as making college athletes a special target population of the program.

Colleges implemented the program in unique and creative ways, using the materials provided by the NEDSP office to create dynamic programs that best met the needs of their own student populations. Many schools worked in conjunction with their athletics departments to provide special programs for student-athletes and coaches. In addition, some sites used the NCAA video on eating disorders as a part of their educational presentation. The Big Ten and Pacific-10 assisted in NEDSP's outreach efforts by showing the NEDSP public service announcement during televised basketball games. Many schools reported that NEDSP helped create links between their health and counseling centers and athletics departments that were beneficial year-round, facilitating referrals of those athletes with health problems as well as providing the impetus for ongoing educational programs.

The success of NEDSP on college campuses in both 1996 and 1998 helped spur the development of a new high school component as part of the 2000 program. This element will expand the NEDSP model to high schools with material and curricula developed specifically for adolescents, teachers, coaches and parents. The support of the National Association of Girls and Women in Sport and the National Federation of State High Schools Associations is helping make high school athletes an integral part of the high school component. The NCAA's ongoing support and the participation of coaches at hundreds of colleges provide the model for the outreach to teen athletes.

NEDSP and NASD are programs of the National Mental Illness Screening Project (NMISP), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The NCAA has been a strong sponsor and supporter of NMISP education and screening programs over the years, and last year helped start NMISP's newest program, National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD).

The alcohol screening program uses the same proven outreach, education and screening model as the eating disorders program. Specifically, it helps college students to better understand their own drinking attitudes and behaviors, while giving them the information and guidance they need to get help for themselves or someone they care about. Feedback from colleges that participated in the 1999 NASD shows that it was a phenomenal success. Based on summary results from the program, it is projected that 38,000 college students attended NASD events and 22,000 were screened on 500 participating campuses across the country.

In 2000, National Alcohol Screening Day will again focus on how to avoid the risks of binge drinking as well as how to help a friend who drinks too much. Outreach to student-athletes will emphasize that peak athletic performance and team morale are hurt when even one team member drinks in a risky manner. The NCAA is proud to sponsor NASD again and encourages the participation of our member schools.

Both programs will continue to offer special materials developed for college students as well as student-athletes and coaches. As in previous years, the programs will provide registered colleges with a video, screening forms and referral instructions, an in-depth procedure guide, an educational presentation with slides, promotional materials, and educational brochures and literature.

Athletics departments and coaches will soon receive a mailing of registration materials for these programs. Those who are interested in holding either or both the eating disorders and alcohol screenings should approach their campus health or counseling center and ask them to register for the program(s) and to provide special screenings for athletic teams. NCAA member schools that register for both programs receive a 20 percent registration discount. Information on and registration materials for both programs, are available through the NMISP office at: One Washington St., #304, Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, 02418-1706. Phone: 781/239-0071, Fax: 781/431-7447. Web site: www.nmisp.org.