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Prevalence and correlates of a positive screen for eating disorders among Syrian refugees
Author(s) -
Aoun Antoine,
Joundi Janine,
El Gerges Najwa
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.2660
Subject(s) - eating disorders , syrian refugees , refugee , clinical psychology , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , gerontology , archaeology , history
Abstract The objective of this cross‐sectional study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of a positive screen for eating disorders (EDs) in a sample of Syrian refugees living in North Lebanon. The study was conducted on a convenience sample of 450 (84.67% women and 15.33% men) refugees, aged between 18 and 45 years. The prevalence of a positive screen for ED was 5.79%. Bivariate analyses revealed that female gender ( p = 0.02), presence of medical conditions ( p = 0.01), old occurrence of major stressful life event ( p < 0.01), and positive primary care post‐traumatic stress disorder screen ( p < 0.01) were associated with the positive sick, control, one stone, fat, food tool. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that subjects screened with post‐traumatic stress disorder had a three times higher risk of having a positive screen for ED (odds ratio = 3.2; 95% confidence interval [1.32, 7.78]). Early detection of ED and related factors may help identify refugees who would benefit from interventions to improve mental health.