title: Real-world effectiveness of a German school-based intervention for primary prevention of anorexia nervosa in preadolescent girls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Anorexia nervosa ('AN') is notoriously difficult to treat, has high mortality rates, and has a prevalence peak in 15-year-old girls. We developed a German school-based intervention program ('PriMa') for the primary prevention of AN in preadolescent girls and assessed the effects in a sample of Thuringian girls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Intervention involved nine guided lessons with special posters and group discussions. A parallel controlled trial with pre-post measurements and a three-month follow-up was conducted in 92 Thuringian schools (n=1553 girls) in 2007 and 2008. Primary outcomes were conspicuous eating behavior, body self esteem, and AN-related knowledge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjusting for the girls' ages and the type of school, we observed significant improvements in the areas of knowledge (d=.24) and body self esteem (d=.29), but not for eating behavior.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PriMa intervention provides an efficient and practical model to increase AN-related protection factors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychosocial Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany. katharina.wick@med.uni-jena.de
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wick
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brix
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bormann
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sowa
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012572:School Health Services; D012649:Self Concept