Information and Communication Technology Effectiveness for Eating Disorders Prevention among College Women

Information and communication technology (ICT) showed some promising success on diverse health behaviors, especially people who are more educated. Literature shows young women are at higher risk of eating disorders than others and frequently associated with impaired body image. The ICT effectiveness in the universal and selective prevention among college women is still not conclusive.

This systematic review aims to extract ICT's evidence in effectiveness on preventing eating disorders among college women and summarize the influential factors associated with the intervention. Researchers identified and reviewed seventeen articles published between 1997 and 2008. Researchers developed a matrix for systematic comparison on the research methodology, participant's characteristics, formats of ICT intervention, duration of intervention, types of human contact, effectiveness indicators, and their significance. The effectiveness indicators include attitudes about eating disorders, body satisfaction, body weight changes, disordered eating behaviors, and psychological indicators.

ICT used in the studies ranged from telephone, audio on cassettes, and multimedia on CD or website along with various levels of human contact in frequency, through telephone, e-mail, web interaction, or face-to-face. Results show promising short term effects on psychological indicators from the majority of the studies but vary when the follow-up periods were three or more months. Psychological indicators appear more effective than the physically measurable outcomes. Researchers suggest a larger sample size in future studies, the comparison of influential factors with other ages and gender, meta-analysis on the use of health behavior theory, contents, format, and duration of intervention, lasting duration of effectiveness. Researchers also recommend the enhanced integration of multiple ICT along with the contact with professionals in the intervention strategies to reach the optimum results.