Design and methods of the Longitudinal Eating Disorders Assessment Project research consortium for veterans

• Published in: International journal of methods in psychiatric research Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. e1941 - n/a
• Main Authors: Forbush, Kelsie T., Swanson, Trevor J., Gaddy, Melinda, Oehlert, Mary, Doan, Alesha, Morgan, Robert W., O’Brien, Colin, Chen, Yiyang, Christian, Kylie, Song, Q. Chelsea, Watson, David, Wiese, Joanna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.06.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: assessment; Body fat; Body mass index; Body weight loss; Comorbidity; Consortia; Cross-sectional studies; Datasets; department of defense; disordered eating; Eating disorders; Feeding and Eating Disorders - diagnosis; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Interviews; longitudinal; Longitudinal studies; Mental disorders; Mental health; Military Personnel; Military service; Mortality; nationally representative; Original; Population studies; psychiatric disorders; Psychopathology; Sample size; Suicides & suicide attempts; Surveys; VADIR; Veterans; Weight control; Women; Young adults; United States > US; assessment; disordered eating; veterans; nationally representative; mental health; VADIR; department of defense; eating disorders; longitudinal; psychiatric disorders
• ISSN: 1049-8931; 1557-0657
• DOI: 10.1002/mpr.1941

Introduction Military service members must maintain a certain body mass index and body fat percentage. Due to weight‐loss pressures, some service members may resort to unhealthy behaviors that place them at risk for the development of an eating disorder (ED). Objectives To understand the scope and impact of EDs in military service members and veterans, we formed the Longitudinal Eating Disorders Assessment Project (LEAP) Consortium. LEAP aims to develop novel screening, assessment, classification, and treatment tools for veterans and military members with a focus on EDs and internalizing psychopathology. Methods We recruited two independent nationally representative samples of post‐9/11 veterans who were separated from service within the past year. Study 1 was a four‐wave longitudinal survey and Study 2 was a mixed‐methods study that included surveys, structured‐clinical interviews, and qualitative interviews. Results Recruitment samples were representative of the full population of recently separated veterans. Sample weights were created to adjust for sources of non‐response bias to the baseline survey. Attrition was low relative to past studies of this population, with only (younger) age predicting attrition at 1‐week follow‐up. Conclusions We expect that the LEAP Consortium data will contribute to improved information about EDs in veterans, a serious and understudied problem.