This paper reports on an experiment designed to decide whether a memoir about recovery from an eating disorder (ED) should be published. Previous research suggested that reading books about EDs may have strongly negative effects, especially for individuals with an ED. In this experiment, 64 participants were randomly assigned to read either the memoir under investigation, The Hungry Anorexic (HA), or a book unrelated to EDs, Ten Zen Questions (TZ). Participants completed two questionnaires before and after reading the book over roughly two weeks: the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), a common measure of eating disorder severity, and the Anorexia Nervosa Stages of Change Questionnaire (ANSOCQ), used to assess attitudes to illness and recovery. Participants also answered three recurring open-ended questions at timepoints during and after their reading. The book would not be published if EDE-Q scores of participants in the HA group worsened significantly, and worsened more than those of participants in the TZ group. Scores on both measures improved significantly between pre- and post-reading for both groups, so the memoir will be published. The positive effects may be due to a feature shared by the two books or a feature of the reading process independent of the books themselves.
Referencia completa: Troscianko, Emily, Rocío Riestra-Camacho, James Carney. “Ethics-testing an eating disorder recovery memoir: a pre-publication experiment”. Revista: Journal of Eating Disorders. Año: 2024. Volumen y número: 12, 114. Páginas: 1-20. Editorial: Springer. País: Reino Unido. ISSN: 2050-2974.