\u201cDuring our focus group conversations, we learned that young people don\u2019t think about nutrition when it comes to eating<\/strong>,\u201d Len-R\u00edos said. \u201cThey think more about calorie-counting, which isn\u2019t necessarily related to a balanced diet.\u201d<\/p>\n The focus groups included college-age women, college-age men and mothers of college-age women, who discussed how body image is associated with engaging in restrictive diets, irregular sleep patterns and over-exercising<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe receive so many conflicting media messages from news reports and advertising about how we should eat, how we should live and how we should look,\u201d Len-R\u00edos said. \u201cSome participants said they realize images of models are digitally enhanced, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily keep them from wanting to achieve these unattainable figures\u2014this is because they see how society rewards women for \u2018looking good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The researchers also completed in-depth interviews with nutritional counselors who said lack of time and unhealthy food environments can keep college-age students from getting good nutrition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cEating well takes time, and, according to health professionals, college students are overscheduled and don\u2019t have enough time to cook something properly or might not know how to prepare something healthful,\u201d Len-R\u00edos said.<\/p>\n Based on the focus group conversations and interviews, Carlia Francis, an MU theater doctoral student and playwright, developed \u201cNutrition 101,\u201d a play about women\u2019s body images. During performances, characters divulge their insecurities about their own bodies, disparage other women\u2019s bodies and talk about nutrition choices. After a short, scripted performance, the actors remain in character, and audience members ask the characters questions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re developing something for interactive theater, focus groups and in-depth interviews are great at getting at stories,\u201d Len-R\u00edos said. \u201cMany of the stories used in the interactive play\u2014like valuing people because of their appearance and not their personal qualities or abilities\u2014came from individuals\u2019 personal experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n Burgoyne says the play helps facilitate dialogues about nutrition, media messages and self-awareness.<\/p>\n \u201cBody image is a sensitive topic, and the play helps open discussions about how individuals view themselves and how media messages influence their self-images,\u201d Burgoyne said. \u201cAn easy way to improve individuals\u2019 body images does not exist, but hopefully, the conversations that arise from the performances will help develop ways to counteract the images that the media promote.\u201d<\/p>\n MU student actors debuted the play last spring, and Burgoyne said performances will resume during the upcoming fall semester.<\/p>\n The study, \u201cConfronting Contradictory Media Messages about Body Image and Nutrition: Implications for Public Health,\u201d was presented earlier this month at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference in Chicago.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the University of Missouri press release: When it comes to college-age individuals taking care of their bodies, appearance is more important than health, research conducted at the University of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,10],"tags":[283,208,207,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5577"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5604,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5577\/revisions\/5604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Mirror.jpg\" "\\"mirror\\"")
When it comes to college-age individuals taking care of their bodies, appearance is more important than health<\/strong>, research conducted at the University of Missouri suggests. Mar\u00eda Len-R\u00edos, an associate professor of strategic communication, Suzanne Burgoyne, a professor of theater, and a team of undergraduate researchers studied how college-age women view their bodies and how they feel about media messages aimed at women. Based on focus group research findings, the MU team developed an interactive play about body image to encourage frank discussions about conflicting societal messages regarding weight, values and healthful choices.<\/p>\n