Alan M. Schwitzer

The Eating Disorders NOS Diagnostic Profile Among College Women

Abstract The authors examined a proposed profile of eating-related behaviors, associated features, developmental issues, and help-seeking behavior among college women, using an eating disorder response program. The most common symptom scenario was a pattern of regular binge eating, together with daily exercise and occasional purging. The most common associated features were distressing or dysfunctional overconcern about body image and self-esteem, usually with day-to-day stress and intermittent depression. The women who fit this pattern also presented developmental issues of perfectionism, conflictual relationships with parents, and struggles for independence; and they tended to be ambivalent about seeking services. Implications for practice, including the need to develop a framework for eating disorder responses on campus that includes preventive programs and developmental interventions to target emerging and moderate concerns are discussed; limitations and the preliminary nature of the findings are explicated.

Eating Disorders Among College Women: Prevention, Education, and Treatment Responses.

Eating-related problems, particularly among college women, represent a significant health concern on university campuses. Body image dissatisfaction, weight preoccupation, and unhealthy weight management are prevalent among even normal-weight students, but discussions of broad college health interventions in this area have been limited. Two conceptual tools that are useful in developing a comprehensive health center response to eating disorders in the college setting are described. The diagnosis of Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified is suggested as a framework for defining target populations and eating problems requiring intervention, and a picture of the prototypical eating problem candidate is developed. A multiple-level model of intervention that includes preventive, intermediate, and remedial responses to varied forms of eating-related concerns is described. The intervention model is illustrated with examples, and limitations of the method are discussed.

Confirmation among College Women: The Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified Diagnostic Profile.

Previously, the researchers proposed and tested a diagnostic framework for women with eating-related concerns who seek college health and mental health treatment. The framework emphasized moderate problems characterized by frequent binging, occasional purging, and frequent exercise; rumination; body image and self-esteem concerns; ambivalence about help seeking; and developmental themes. Several questions remained about the frameworks generalizability beyond women in treatment. Objective: In the current study, the authors provide new support for the frameworks generalizability to college women with clinically significant eating concerns who do not seek treatment. Participants and Methods: Female students (N = 112) completed a screening instrument providing descriptive and comparative data about primary symptoms, associated features, and help seeking. Results: Results suggested that the framework is specific to women with eating problems and does not suffer the pitfalls of applying over-generally to all college women or all female patients and clients. Conclusions: Implications for practice, research limitations, and remaining questions are discussed.

Promoting Student Learning and Student Development at a Distance: Student Affairs Concepts and Practices for Televised Instruction and Other Forms of Distance Learning.

Samels, president of The Education Alliance, provides a very clear explication of successful practices, with stress on defining success in terms of careful assessment of the attainment of clear goals. Chapter 7, “Recentering Learning: An interdisciplinary Approach to Academic and Student Affairs” by Richard Guarasci, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wagner College, is a case study of the successful transition of Wagner College from severe financial crisis to financial and academic vigor through a restructuring of all relevant units of the college around student learning goals. Finally, chapter 8, “Building the Foundation for Collaboration: Seamless Learning at a New College,” is written by Rod Crafts, Dean of Student Life at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Zachary First, Assistant Dean of Student Life at the same college, and Jeffrey Satwicz, a student partner working with faculty and staff to design this new college. The chapter is a case study that describes the administrative structures chosen to assure student success as this new engineering school is designed ab initio. In this school there will be no isolated student affairs silo, and Mr. Crafts, an experienced student affairs professional, discusses at some length his perception of the added influence and respect that student affairs professionals enjoy in such an administrative structure. With its eight chapters, each very different in approach, this volume presents all viewpoints in the ongoing discussion of how to marshal the talents and enthusiasms of both academic and student affairs professionals in support of student learning and development. Despite divergences of opinion on various issues, the total volume does happily appear to support the thesis that there is a consensus that the academic and developmental success of the students demands more teamwork involving both academic and student affairs professional, that through this teamwork the isolated student affairs silo of the past is melting away, and that the previous anxieties of student affairs professionals disappear as members of the new teams share pride in their collective accomplishments.

Self-Development, Social Support, and Student Help-Seeking: Research Summary and Implications for College Psychotherapists.

Abstract College psychotherapists and student development professionals need to better understand which students utilize available supports on campus, when positive outcomes are due to intervention effects versus participant self-selection, and whether supportive experiences have different effects depending on developmental differences among participants. This article reports on an ongoing research program investigating interventions for a diverse range of college clientele, including: first-year experience classes, peer mentoring for African Americans at predominantly White institutions, mandated counseling for at-risk financial aid students, adult distance learners, and women counseling clients with eating disorders. Findings from the ongoing research suggest three tentative themes: (1) support services tend to be most utilized by developmentally low-risk students; (2) participants tend to prefer programs providing high social support, versus self-directed, less engaging interventions; and (3) regarding intervention effects, interactions cause a curvilinear relationship between self-development, provision of support, and program outcomes. Counseling implications and directions for continued research are discussed.

College Women Eating Disorder Diagnostic Profile and DSM-5

Abstract A consistent diagnostic profile describing college women with eating disorders has been well established in the college health and mental health literature. This diagnostic framework traditionally has been associated with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision1 Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified category. In this article, the authors discuss implications of the recently revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition2 eating disorder diagnostic categories for the existing college women eating disorder profile.

Community College Adjustment Among Dislocated Workers

Community colleges often are catalysts for economic and workforce development in localities with high unemployment or large numbers of dislocated workers. Increasingly, dislocated workers—individuals who have experienced job loss due to occupational closings, reduced workforces, or severe local economic downturns—are enrolling in educational and retraining opportunities, career counseling, and other supports offered by their local community college in partnership with federal and state assistance programs. Although benchmarks for two-year college success include providing institutional supports to address students’ academic, social, and personal adjustment needs, little research exists to help guide effective practices aimed at supporting dislocated workers’ two-year college adjustment, retention, and success. To help fill this gap, this study collected data describing 117 dislocated-worker students’ academic, social, personal-emotional, and institutional adjustment. Next we compared dislocated worker adjustment factors with those of 143 nondislocated worker students. Contrary to our expectations, the dislocated workers in our study actually reported better academic adjustment and better academic performance than other students. Also contrary to our expectations, we found no differences in adjustment needs between the two different groups on the basis of social support, goal-directedness, or barriers to employment success. We discuss implications for practice arising from our unexpected findings and present limitations of the study and directions for future research.

Examining the Effects of Residence and Gender on College Student Adjustment in Iran: Implications for Psychotherapists

This study examined the effects of on-campus residence, in comparison with commuter status, on academic performance, vocational commitment, self-efficacy, and perceptions of the college environment among female and male Iranian students at Shiraz University, Iran. The study sought to extend previous work investigating the effects of college residence on adjustment by testing these effects with a national population that has received relatively little attention in the extant counseling literature. Nearly all previously published studies exploring these phenomena have focused exclusively on college students in the United States. We found that residential living had positive effects on student adjustment and academic performance and that these effects were mediated by gender. Implications of these findings for the college psychotherapy and student development knowledge base, college and university psychotherapists working with international students and American students of Middle Eastern and Northern African descent in the United States, and college counseling professionals working in Middle Eastern and North African nations, as well as critical limitations of the study, are discussed.

A Framework for College Counseling Responses to Large Scale Traumatic Incidents

Abstract Although most psychotherapists have limited experience dealing with large scale catastrophic incidents, college and university counseling centers today need to be prepared for crisis events such as terrorist attacks, war, and local catastrophes. This article presents a conceptual model for designing counseling center responses to large scale traumatic incidents. Familiar college mental health constructs are applied to the relatively unfamiliar territory of responding to traumatic incidents. First, DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria are used to define three levels of student need based on different types of stressful or traumatic events and expected reactions. Next, a corresponding three-part response plan is discussed, including preventive, intermediate, and advanced counseling and psychotherapy interventions. Finally, the college counseling roles of crisis intervention and student development consultation are discussed in relation to the aftermath of large scale traumas. The influence of staff attitudes and values, and other limitations of the model, also are described.

Applying the Student Learning Imperative to Counseling Center Outcome Evaluation

Abstract College counseling centers are responding to institutional demands for greater accountability. Increasingly, institutions require that student services demonstrate intended student outcomes as part of their planning and funding process. Two challenges when evaluating outcomes of counseling center activities are (1) conducting assessment so that it meets the needs of the practitioners, institutional leaders, and external constituencies who will each utilize the data, and (2) conducting assessment so that it reflects the outcomes of the wide range of services found “under one roof” in university counseling services. There is also increasing pressure from institutions and from student affairs leaders to demonstrate the relationship between counseling outcomes and student learning. This article presents a framework that responds to these trends by applying Student Learning Imperative constructs to outcome evaluation in college counseling centers.