Eating disorders : the role of the school social worker

Abstract

The fact that eating disorders are on the increase could be related to the fact that increasing pressure from media and peers is being exerted to have an ideal slim body. Issues of acceptance, success, recognition and personal worth are also being associated with the slim 'ideal' body that society promotes. As a result, many teenagers are falling prey to eating disorders and the sadness, frustration, fear, depression and loneliness such disorders bring with them. This highlights the need for action to be taken in addressing eating disorders and preventing them from occurring. The school is at the centre of most adolescent social, academic, artistic and athletic pursuits; it is also the locus of strivings for adequacy, acceptance and a sense of identity. Having access to our children for the greatest part of their waking day, the school is in a unique position to experience and recognize disease indicators, as well as intervene to ameliorate the problem (Natenshon 1996, p. 4). This dissertation explores the role of the school social worker in addressing issues of eating disorders. It aims at acquiring more understanding of eating disorders directly from persons having gone through such experience. With the insight acquired from survivors of eating disorders and with the help of relevant literature, this dissertation seeks to explore the presence of issues related to eating disorder in form four students of one particular school. It will also investigate the presence, if any, of services the students can refer to in their school and also explore how these present services could be made more effective and more accessible to students going through an eating disorder. Finally, by interviewing school social workers, information about what is presently available in addressing eating disorders is gathered together with the school social workers' opinion about what could be done to better address the issue in schools. This research indicates the need for the development of more services for sufferers of eating disorders. School social workers need to acquire more information and training in ways to deal with students having issues of eating disorders. Reaching persons at risk of developing an eating disorder while recognising those going through such experience calls for more outreach and early prevention. Prevention should focus on personality development and helping students to acquire a positive self-concept that is based on inner qualities and various abilities students possess.