title: Roundtable on the Prevention of Eating Disorders: The Catalan public policy initiative.
abstract: The field of prevention of body image problems and eating disorders has made major advances in recent years, particularly in the development and evaluation of prevention programmes. However, few programmes achieve good long-term results because, among other reasons, the sociocultural influences affecting the development of these problems do not stop. Moreover, accelerating progress in this field is required, transferring their impact onto a larger scale. These reasons justify the need to progress in the development of public policy interventions. This paper describes a recent Catalan initiative in this sphere: the Roundtable on the Prevention of Eating Disorders, made up of different public and private sectors of Catalan society. It specifically details the main actions carried out, such as: media campaigns to reduce weight-related teasing and encouraging self-esteem, encouraging family meals and promoting help-seeking among those affected; the creation of a new informative website about these matters in the Department of Health; the production of a Decalogue of Best Practices for the promotion of self-esteem and positive body image in social media and advertising; and actions to prevent the promotion of eating disorders on the Internet. The Roundtable is the most comprehensive Catalan (and Spanish) public policy activity undertaken until now for the prevention of eating disorders.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit on Eating and Weight-related Behaviors, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: david.sanchez@uab.es.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Carracedo
authors.affiliation: Association Against Anorexia and Bulimia (ACAB), Mallorca 198, pral. 2ª, 08036 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carretero
authors.affiliation: Catalan Consumer Agency (ACC), Pamplona 113, 08018 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alfons
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conesa
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D017149:Private Sector / Q000458:organization & administration; D011640:Public Policy; D017150:Public Sector / Q000458:organization & administration; D061108:Social Media; D013030:Spain
keywords: Body image; Eating disorders; Prevention; Public policy