A storybook approach to raise awareness of unhealthy attitudes towards and behaviours around eating in children aged 6-11 years

The issue of eating disorders and disordered eating (ED/DE) is becoming more prevalent in younger children and prevention efforts are required in the formative years. However, existing approaches are resource intensive, focus more on ‘healthy eating’ and are not necessarily embedded within everyday education. In this qualitative study, parents, teachers, and practitioners (affiliated and non-affiliated with an ED charity, N = 16) provided open-ended feedback after engaging with a research-informed ED/DE children’s storybook, which is not part of the formal curriculum, for children aged 6–11 years. Reflexive thematic analysis led to four global themes: [A] Confidence in approaching the subject and extent of concern, [B] Discussions, training, and empathetic conversations, [C] Social media and social identity, and [D] Application and development. Our findings suggest that ED/DE in children is a concern, and the storybook was viewed as a versatile and valued resource that could support initiating conversation with children, particularly in response to wider societal pressures. The storybook was viewed as raising awareness of ED/DE for both parent/practitioner and children, although development of supplementary materials and activities is needed to address other aspects of ED/DE. We discuss these findings in relation to researchers working more closely with area experts to develop credible resources to support a range of complex topics and issues.