[Barbie goes PriMa: formative evaluation of a school-based program for the primary prevention of anorexia nervosa developed for girls up to the age of 12].
OBJECTIVE
Recently, a newly developed German program for the prevention of anorexia nervosa in girls ("PriMa") was successfully tested for effectiveness in a controlled study with prepost-design in 1,006 girls from 42 Thuringian schools (Berger et al. 2007). In the present article the test of the program's effectiveness was completed by an evaluation of the program's conception and its process.


METHODS
Using questionnaires, protocols and phone interviews, single parts of the program (kick-off presentation, n = 400; teachers training, n = 34; lessons, n = 392) as well as single lessons (n = 87 girls and n = 14 teachers) were evaluated.


RESULTS
All parts of the program were evaluated as being significantly positive (better than 2.5 on a six-point scale). The questionnaires used were reliable (Cronbach's alpha between .74 and .84). The survey of program users resulted in shorter research questionnaires, a more detailed teaching manual with more interactive exercises and smaller training groups (14 instead of 20 participants).


CONCLUSIONS
The introduced work points out the need to complete the evaluation of program impact with verbal and written evaluations of direct and indirect program users. This is the only way to reveal information about the program's strengths and weaknesses to continuously adjust and improve single program parts.
Berger
Uwe
U
Institut für Psychosoziale Medizin und Psychotherapie am Klinikum der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. uwe.berger@uni-jena.de
Ziegler
Petra
P
Strauss
Bernhard
B
D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D011322:Primary Prevention; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome