An Ecological Approach to Obesity and Eating Disorders is the work of students of Clemson University’s Public Health Science in collaboration with Clemson Libraries. The students wanted it to be an information guide on various weight-related challenges for the general public.  The goals of this project were to meet the course (HLTH 4150 – Obesity and Eating Disorders) learning objective of understanding weight issues and to develop a product for the general public to use as a resource for these health conditions.

 

Students divided the chapters up based on the five levels of the Ecological Model as this public health issue is just not one person’s individual responsibility.  In addition to writing his/her individual chapter, each person also peer-reviewed all chapters and provided feedback which allowed for deeper understanding of weight issues.  Editing duties were self-selected and completed during the last revisions of the book.  The end of semester feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive.