SUNY Oneonta Students Create Peer-Led Body Image Workshop

Twelve SUNY Oneonta students served as Peer Leaders this semester in “The Body Project,” a body image and eating disorder workshop developed through a Student Research and Creative Activity (SRCA) grant.

The program builds on grant-funded research from spring 2024, when students conducted a campus-wide needs assessment. That survey found high rates of eating disorders, disordered eating behaviors and body dissatisfaction among SUNY Oneonta students. Sixty percent of respondents showed signs of elevated eating disorder risk, and 42% were at moderate to high risk for compulsive exercise.

In response, The Body Project was launched to address the concerns through peer-led workshops focused on challenging harmful appearance ideals and encouraging healthier attitudes.

Pilot Results Show Positive Impact

In a pilot group of seven SUNY Oneonta students, participants took surveys before and after attending The Body Project workshop to measure changes in eating and exercise behaviors. The results showed significant improvements, with risk scores dropping across the board. On average, eating disorder risk scores fell by over 7 points, while compulsive exercise scores decreased by nearly 2.5 points. These findings suggest that The Body Project may be an effective way to improve body image among SUNY Oneonta students.

“We hope to offer two to four workshops each semester, forever,” said Assistant Professor of Sport and Exercise Sciences Katherine Griffes. “Faculty and staff who participated will serve as Peer Leader trainers in the future, so we can always have new Peer Leaders to run the program. There is also an opportunity for athlete-specific programs.”

Dr. Griffes was one of three faculty sponsors of The Body Project, alongside Assistant Professor Kelly Martin and Associate Professor Emily Riddle. Dr. Martin and Dr. Riddle are nutrition and dietetics faculty, and the Director and Assistant Director of the MS Nutrition and Dietetics program at SUNY Oneonta. All three faculty members were sponsors of the SRCA research project that preceded The Body Project, titled “Needs Assessment of Nutrition-Related Issues Including Body Image, Disordered Eating, and Excessive Exercise Among SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Students and Student-Athletes.”

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The Body Project was the SRCA presentation of Sabrinna Mena, Katie Daniszewski and Brendan Heaney, who also served as Peer Leaders. Mena and Daniszewski led the 2024 needs assessment project with alumna Jianna Chapman (‘24). Additional Peer Leaders for The Body Project included Nadia McLasky, Ashley Defeo, Sidney Danella, Alex Garcia, Amelia Cataldo, Anna Kern, Arionna Day, Tarryn Herman and Joey Axel.

“This experience has helped me with my education by allowing me to put aside the worry of the way I look for class or studying and spend more time enjoying the education and social life that college provides for me,” said Cataldo, an Exercise Science major. “Training and participating in this project was no small task, but putting aside time during my semester to spread a belief I am passionate about has allowed me to understand why it is important to put yourself out there and take risks with new opportunities.”

Presenting at the NYSAND AME Conference

Mena, Daniszewski and Heaney, who are all Dietetics majors, traveled to Albany, NY, on Friday, April 25, to present their research from The Body Project at the Annual Meeting & Expo (AME) conference of the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (NYSAND) at Union College.

The AME conference features a diverse gathering of nutrition and dietetics events, including keynote and feature speakers, poster research presentations by students, interns and industry professionals and panel discussions. Mena, Daniszewski and Heaney received the Poster Award in recognition of their research and scholarly work in nutrition and dietetics. The award highlights presentations by students and professionals, showcasing innovative research and contributions to the field.

“My dream is to become a registered dietitian in my professional field,” said Heaney. “With this training, I can respond better to those who put out words of negative body image or idealizing the appearance ideal and flip the script to identify challenges with those narratives.”

“I have been honored to be a part of bringing The Body Project to Oneonta and am so grateful for the dedicated students who have taken on the responsibility of leading this initiative on campus,” said Dr. Martin. “The Body Project is a peer-led project, so it requires significant dedication and commitment from students. Sabrinna, Katie and Brendan, along with our other peer leaders, have done a remarkable job of starting off this program and tracking its progress in such a noteworthy way. I look forward to helping foster its growth into the future here at Oneonta