Headshot photo captured by the Honors College

Author: Valeria Fernandez | Major: Human Nutrition and Dietetics | Semester: Fall 2024

In a systematic report reviewing point prevalence between 2000 and 2018, approximately 17% of the global population demonstrated disordered eating behaviors at some point in life (Marie et al., 2023). Meanwhile, eating disorder (ED) dietitians are specializing in working to overcome these circumstances through treatment methods such as nutrition education and behavioral counseling (Heruc et al., 2020). As a response to these treatment methods, I have been working over the fall 2024 grant term with my honors mentor, Dr. Jennifer N. Becnel, to collect data on the degree of existing nutritional knowledge and the frequency of thoughts related to disordered eating behaviors. We then plan to determine whether there is a correlation between the two variables. Conducting my research on this topic will provide me with the opportunity to expand my knowledge within the field of behavioral nutrition while observing the effectiveness of nutrition education on disordered eating recovery.

Before confirming a research topic, students in Bumpers College are prepared in their first semester to write a draft email to a faculty mentor that they believe could be an appropriate fit for potential thesis ideas. Because I had a personal investment as a dietetics major and family history associated with the fluctuating journey of ED recovery, I felt emotionally driven to pursue research within the realm. This is combined with my professional goals for developing my background information in the dietetics field, too. My initial draft email was created with the intention of requesting assistance from Dr. Becnel, who has previous experience researching on mental health (specifically within the adolescent population range) and is with the Human Development and Family Sciences department. Bumpers College does a great job of outlining the available mentors and their research focuses on their Honors page, so it made the mentor search more manageable.

Although I decided to move forward in the initial direction that I set for myself, I allowed myself to be open to exploring other research topics before confirming. I believe there is value in experimenting out of my comfort zone and discovering other professionals who are also doing valuable work in food spaces. For example, I began by reaching out to my academic advisor, Dr. Sabrina Trudo, to receive feedback on ideas I had in mind that leaned more on the food science side. Some of these ideas included researching the components of differing plant and animal milk varieties, diving into essential fatty acid ratios, and building on her current research related to carcinogens and health properties of cruciferous vegetables. Following my brainstorming session with Dr. Trudo, I was then referred to Dr. Sun-Ok Lee. Dr. Lee explained that she had been working with food scraps that are typically discarded, and her team aimed to determine how these items could promote health. Because I had been inspired by her research, as it aligned with my personal values of encouraging sustainable food systems through repurposing what would otherwise be discarded (which also happens to overlap with the work I do with Razorback Food Recovery), I agreed to join her project and enrolled in the Bumpers Thesis Proposal/Development Course with this topic in mind.

Even though my time on this project was short, as I went on to overcome the challenges of a topic change, I learned so much through the background research I was required to do when I was working to improve my understanding of their methods and the results of previous literature. This then allowed me to learn of the amazing contributions others are making to advance research in similar fields. As far as the switches I made, I am proud of myself for having the courage to re-take the thesis course and allow myself to fully prepare and move forward with my current project. Although this did require some additional work, I learned how crucial it is to stay in tune with one’s intellectual ambitions and to reflect on the long-term path we begin paving in the present. Dr. Becnel was very understanding when I explained my situation in early 2023. After discussing my intentions with my professors – Dr. Lisa Wood and Dr. Isabel Whitehead-Adams – as well as with Dr. Becnel, it was agreed that she would be my primary mentor for my official undergraduate thesis.

During the fall semester of 2024, I proceeded with recruiting participants utilizing the Honors Research Grant. My mentor and I were able to begin this step after submitting an IRB approval request over the summer and incorporating suggestions for edits before its public release. Our survey consisted of a modified version of the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire – Revised (GNKQ-R) as well as questions pulled from the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire – Shortened (EDE-QS), and these were pulled for the intention of emphasizing the two variables we are determined to study. In addition to supporting everyday expenses as a student, the grant aided us in recruitment by allowing us to offer a gift card incentive. We continued to accept participants for about a month and a half, finishing with a total of 156 filtered responses. Following the subject recruitment phase, Dr. Becnel closely worked with me to strengthen my understanding of the SPSS platform once we moved towards exporting responses into the system. Our primary focus for this semester, other than recruitment, has been on organizing and cleaning the data to prepare for analysis. This included an introduction to features such as the frequencies to pull graphs and compile the demographics of our participants. After demographics, I was then introduced to the recoding features for adjusting the survey scale to match that of the scale on the original versions. Finishing the recoding process for the EDE-QS is our current next step, as it is where we left off for this semester. Because of the sufficient progress that I believe we have made together in the project so far, I feel comfortable in our ability to complete the re-coding and the ending analysis/results before defending in April.

References

Heruc, G., Hart, S., Stiles, G., Fleming, K., Casey, A., Sutherland, F., Jeffrey, S., Roberton, M., & Hurst, K. (2020). ANZAED practice and training standards for dietitians providing eating disorder treatment. Journal of Eating Disorders, 8(1). DOI: 10.1186/s40337-020-00334-z

Marie, G., Pierre, D., Gregory, L., & Pierre, T. (2023). Prevalence of eating disorders over the 2000-2018 period: A systemic literature review. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 109(5), 1402-1413. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqy342.