Date Awarded
2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Education
Advisor
Patrick Mullen
Committee Member
Elizabeth Burgin
Committee Member
Cristin Runfola
Abstract
Researchers, clinicians, and individuals with eating disorders have varying perspectives regarding the outcomes of eating disorder recovery. This study introduced the concept of thriving in recovery with the development of a new assessment: the Thriving in Eating Recovery Scale (TIERS). The purpose of this study was to establish initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the TIERS to assess the behavioral, social, and psychological markers of eating disorder recovery. A non-clinical sample of 1,247 participants, recruited by Amazon’s Mechanical Turk online crowdsourcing site, provided initial data on the TIERS, as well as the Eating Disorders Recovery Questionnaire (EDRQ), Brief Inventory of Thriving (BIT), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale-X1 (MCSDS-X1). Exploratory factor analysis was utilized to identify the factor structure of two versions of the TIERS: a six-factor theoretically robust model and a two-factor parsimonious model. The factors retained represent the key components of thriving in eating recovery: cognitive recovery, advanced symptom remission, engagement with life, prioritization of recovery values, psychological well-being and quality of life, and attitudes towards self. Bivariate correlations were performed to identify evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the TIERS, as well as reliability analyses to establish evidence for the internal consistency reliability of the TIERS scores. Results from this study carry implications for counselors in clinical practice and for individuals recovering from eating disorders. Recommendations for future research include establishing evidence for the psychometric properties of the TIERS using a clinical sample, in addition to many exciting directions following the development of a new assessment for thriving in eating recovery.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.25774/w4-5dhy-v829
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Walker, Morgan, "Development Of The Thriving In Eating Recovery Scale: A Measure For Life Beyond Disorder" (2023). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1697552655.
https://dx.doi.org/10.25774/w4-5dhy-v829
