Supporting healthy eating and wellbeing of Millennial's suffering from bulimia nervosa
Apr 2018 - ongoing
Nowadays, societies are suffering from high rates of stress and anxiety. One of the target groups which is suffering from many of those problems is the generation called Millennials, according to Thomas Curran from Bath University, “college students are currently suffering from higher levels of perfectionism due to competing society, social pressures and their aim to succeed.” (Curran and Hill, 2017). Anxiety and stress and perfectionism can lead to some serious mental diseases such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD) and eating disorders. (Limburg et al., 2017)
Millennials have also been criticised for their laziness, lack of responsibility and for the seek of instant gratification. However, they are also obsessed with success and perfectionism, they don’t know how to fail and this together with the above-mentioned problems may lead to some mental disorders such as anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD) (Limburg et al., 2017).
The reasons behind having unhealthy eating behaviors are connected to the high perfectionism, low self-efficacy and the ego threat of high body dissatisfaction. Studies have shown that people with high levels of perfectionism try to hide their mistakes and imperfections, preventing themselves to learn from their mistakes. Binge eating and bulimia appear to be related as a way to escape from the anxiety that perfectionism causes to them.
The aim of this project is therefore, to develop a product or product-service combination that would help patients with an eating disorder to deal with their mental disease. The purpose is to give an innovative solution that works specifically towards the recovery and the well-being of the patients, helping them to learn and cope with the disease and trying to avoid a relapse episode and promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Project coaches: Annemiek van Boeijen and Rick Schifferstein