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Tuesday, November 09, 2010

"Thank you Ann Gie.

We will now move on to the first of our initiatives- The Changing Room (TCR).

TCR, as mentioned by our first speaker Isaac, serves as the initial stage of, and follow-up treatment in our plan. We feel that there is an urgent need for school-based help centres to be included in our project, because while a vast 73.8% of reported anorexia cases involved students, schools only referred 6.3% of these cases for treatment. As such, this highlights the need for schools to be more vigilant in the detection and prevention of anorexia. To prepare for the implementation of TCR, school counselors will undergo a full-day workshop conducted by the MOE, focusing on anorexia detection, treatment methodologies and support for sufferers.

The target audience of TCR will consist of both newly-diagnosed youth from both secondary schools and tertiary institutions, as well as recovering youths who have graduated from Camp Metamorphosis, which our next speaker Dawn will cover.

To identify anorexic students, there will be two rounds of diagnostic assessments that culminate in a face-to-face consultation. Based on students’ weights recorded in the school’s online database, those with a Body Mass Index that is lower than 18, an indicator of their being underweight, will be identified. However, as this method is blind to other factors of thinness such as genetics, a second round of diagnosis will be held for a more qualitative confirmation. This process will involve teacher feedback of students whose names have been surfaced. Those suspected by their tutors of being anorexic will then attend a face-to-face consultation, during which the trained school counselor will administer the Eating Attitudes Test, which scores a person’s body image perception and eating habits, followed by an interview.

After these youth have been identified, they will be given more information on their diagnosis, and strongly encouraged to be treated for their condition.

Parents of these youths will be invited to attend at least two sessions (out of ten) per term at TCR with their child. Through this measure, we hope to give them a better understanding of their child’s situation, improve familial understanding, and allow the recovering youths to have support from their family. This is important because continued support is the key to recovery from eating disorders. To accommodate parents who cannot attend these sessions, the counselor will either hold a video conference or video-record the session. Parents who view the session through the recording will be able to further communicate with the counselor through phone and/or electronic-mail.

With regard to public education, we propose the creation of a school-based magazine entitled Weight and See. Distributed in the school every term, it will give examples of other cultures’ notions of beauty. We intend for this to question the acceptance of anorexic models, and prove that one need not be slender to be beautiful. The latter of these will hopefully discourage youths from becoming anorexic just for vanity’s sake. We also wish to educate readers about the various causes of anorexia- to let them know, that vanity is but one of the minor reasons that people become ill. The empathetic feel of the magazine will hopefully help anorexics realize that being thin is not what they are really after- Because while they may feel that being skinny helps them feel better about themselves, their real problem is their inability to accept themselves. Finally, we hope for Weight and See to point anorexics to TCR for the support they need.

Our group feels this is an effective method of outreach because regular magazine-reading is a habit of more than half, or 54% of Singaporean youths. We also feel that this approach may be helpful to anorexics, who are likely in a state of denial about their condition as it can help them understand themselves better and be more open to the reality of their physical conditions.

To incentivize the reading of Weight and See, online quizzes relating to the magazine will be held fortnightly, with vouchers given as prizes.

To incorporate the lessons we have learnt from the National Smoking Control Programme, TCR functions as both term-time and follow-up treatment. This ensures that sustainability is achieved with our programme, as its various components work together to enable the recovery of the patient. The reach of our public education efforts is also expanded through the incorporation of a media popular with youths.

To further empower these youths in their journey to overcoming anorexia, our next speaker Dawn will now explain the second, and more intensive measure in our programme, Camp Metamorphosis."