Background: A growing body of evidence is suggesting a significant association between the COVID-19 pandemic and population-level mental health. Study findings suggest that individuals with a lifetime history of disordered eating behavior may be negatively affected by COVID-19–related anxiety, and prevention measures may disrupt daily functioning and limit access to treatment. However, data describing the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on disordered eating behaviors are limited, and most findings focus on individuals in treatment settings. Objective: The aim of this study is to characterize the experiences of Reddit users worldwide who post in eating disorder (ED)–related discussion forums describing the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on their overall mental health and disordered eating behavior. Methods: Data were collected from popular subreddits acknowledging EDs as their primary discussion topic. Unique discussion posts dated from January 1 to May 31, 2020 that referenced the COVID-19 pandemic were extracted and evaluated using inductive, thematic data analysis. Results: Six primary themes were identified: change in ED symptoms, change in exercise routine, impact of quarantine on daily life, emotional well-being, help-seeking behavior, and associated risks and health outcomes. The majority of users reported that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health prevention measures negatively impacted their psychiatric health and contributed to increased disordered eating behaviors. Feelings of isolation, frustration, and anxiety were common. Many individuals used Reddit forums to share personal experiences, seek advice, and offer shared accountability. Conclusions: Reddit discussion forums have provided a therapeutic community for individuals to share experiences and provide support for peers with ED during a period of increased psychiatric distress. Future research is needed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on disordered eating behavior and to evaluate the role of social media discussion forums in mental health treatment, especially during periods of limited treatment access.

Purpose: We aimed to study the impact of a combined faculty-student book club on education and medical practice as a part of the informal curriculum at the University of Florida College of Medicine in the United States.Methods: Sixteen medical students and 7 faculties who participated in the book club were interviewed through phone and recorded. The interview was then transcribed and entered into the qualitative data analysis program QSR NVivo (QSR International, Burlington, MA, USA). The transcripts were reviewed, and thematic codes were developed inductively through collaborative iteration. Based on these preliminary codes, a coding dictionary was developed and applied to all interviews within QSR Nvivo to identify themes.Results: Four main themes were identified from interviews: The first theme, the importance of literature to the development and maintenance of empathy and perspective-taking, and the second theme, the importance of the book club in promoting mentorship, personal relationships and professional development, were important to both student and faculty participants. The third and fourth themes, the need for the book club as a tool for self-care and the book club serving as a reminder about the world outside of school were discussed by student book club members.Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that an informal book club has a significant positive impact on self-care, perspective-taking, empathy, and developing a “world outside of school” for medical school students and faculty in the United States. It also helps to foster meaningful relationships between students and faculty.

Despite the reduced caloric content of artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) relative to those sweetened with sucrose, consumption of ASBs fail to consistently decrease the risk of obesity and associated diseases. This failure may be due to the inability of ASBs to effectively reduce appetite and hence overall caloric intake. A variety of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), however, remain to be screened for effectiveness in promoting satiety and reducing calorie consumption. Erythritol is well-tolerated, low-calorie sugar alcohol widely used as a sugar substitute. It is unique among NNS due to its low sweetness index relative to glucose, meaning that it is typically served at much higher concentrations than other common NNS. Animal and human studies have noted correlations between osmolarity, satiety, and levels of satiety hormones, independent of the effects of sweetness or nutritive value. We hypothesized that consumption of a beverage sweetened with erythritol to the sweetness and osmolarity of a common soft drink will improve self-reported satiety and more strongly affect the magnitude of changes in the hormone ghrelin than would an iso sweet beverage sweetened only with aspartame, a sweetener with a high sweetness index relative to glucose. Using a randomized double-blind crossover trial, we found that serum ghrelin was significantly decreased after consumption of an erythritol-sweetened beverage compared to aspartame. Likewise, consumption of the erythritol-sweetened beverage increased various measures of satiety in volunteers. Knowledge gained from this project demonstrates that high-osmolarity NNS may be useful in formulating ASBs that are satiating and low in calories.

Intestinal ostomy can have significant effects on lives and lived experiences. However, limited research exists on the experiences of persons with ostomy in low-resource settings, such as rural Haiti. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of Haitians with an ostomy, focusing on the physical, psychological, and social aspects of their post-operative lives. We conducted 9 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with participants who had undergone ostomy surgery at the Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais in Haiti. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), we iteratively examined transcripts to identify convergent and divergent codes, which were then grouped into themes to better understand the participants’ experiences. Three themes emerged: (a) ostomy as a social disease, which has severe impacts on relationships and place in society; (b) ostomy as altering self-image, leading participants to reflect on their identity and the underlying causes of their condition and to reevaluate their necessities and abilities; and (c) ostomy as an arduous medical journey, characterized by pain, distress, uncertainty, and disillusionment, but also resiliency, improvisation, and hope. This study highlights the multifaceted experiences of persons with ostomy in the low-resource rural environment of Haiti and underscores the need for improved access to medical care, financial support, and psychosocial and caregiving resources for these individuals. Findings also emphasize the importance of medical providers’ improved understanding in making medical decisions, and cultural and socioeconomic factors in developing effective support strategies.