The Attitude of Primary School Children\u27s Parents Towards Eating Disorders

Motnje hranjenja so problem današnje družbe. Predstavljajo resno težavo, povezano z visoko stopnjo umrljivosti med psihološkimi boleznimi. Pri otrocih in mladostnikih so motnje hranjenja vse pogostejše, nastajajo pa vse bolj zgodaj. V magistrskem delu smo ugotavljali seznanjenost staršev z motnjami hranjenja, preverjali preventivno in kurativno ukrepanje staršev v primeru motenj hranjenja ter ugotavljali, kakšna so stališča staršev do motenj hranjenja. Preverjali smo tudi, kako spol, starost, izobrazba, razred otrok ter materialno stanje vplivajo na odnos staršev do motenj hranjenja. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 207 staršev (161 žensk in 46 moških). Rezultati so pokazali, da starši poznajo anoreksijo nervozo, bulimijo nervozo ter kompulzivno prenajedanje, ne poznajo pa novih motenj hranjenja – ortoreksije in bigoreksije. Večina staršev osnovnošolskih otrok se ne boji, da bi njihov otrok v prihodnosti zbolel za eno izmed motenj hranjenja. Največ informacij o tej problematiki pridobijo prek interneta, če pa bi njihov otrok kazal simptome motenj hranjenja, bi pomoč poiskali pri zdravniku. V povezavi s preventivnimi programi o motnjah hranjenja na šolah več kot polovica staršev (57,5 %) ne ve, ali se na šolah izvajajo preventivni programi o motnjah hranjenja, le 8,7 % staršev je odgovorilo, da se programi o motnjah hranjenja izvajajo. Stališče staršev je, da bi se morali preventivni programi o motnjah hranjenja izvajati na šolah, ker v današnji družbi motnje hranjenja pri otrocih in adolescentih predstavljajo resen problem. Potreba po preventivnih programih je torej velika.Eating disorders are an issue of today\u27s society. They are a serious issue related to a high mortality level among mental disorders. Eating disorders are common among children and adolescents. The age of idividuals struggling with them has been decreasing. This thesis deals with the question of how well parents are educated about eating disorders, it checks the preventive and curative action parents take when faced with eating disorders and it determines the parents\u27 views on eating disorders. We researched the way gender, age, education, the grade that the child is in and their financial situation affect the parents\u27 feelings about eating disorders. 207 parents took part in the research (161 females and 46 males). Results show that parents are familiar with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and compulsive overeating, but they are not aware of recent disorders such as orthorexia and bigorexia. Majority of elementary school children\u27s parents are afraid of their children suffering from eating disorders in the future. They receive a large part of information on this topic on the internet, but they claim that they would consult a doctor if their child was showing symptoms of an eating disorder. More than a half of the parents (57,5 %) do not know if schools run eating disorder prevention programs. Only 8,7 % of the parents claim that such programs exist in schools. They believe that eating disorder prevention campaigns should be present in schools, because eating disorders pose a serious threat to children and adolescents. There is a definitine need for eating disorder prevention programs