Congratulations to dr. Vaiva Balčiūnienė on successfully defending her doctoral dissertation “Students’ Body Image and Educational Opportunities of Its Correction” (Lithuanian Sport University, Educational Science (S 007), scientific supervisor – prof. dr. Rasa Jankauskienė) and on obtaining the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences in the field of Education.

The dissertation is available in the library of Lithuanian University of Sport.
The dissertation is available at 6 Sporto St., Lithuanian University of Sport.

 

 

A brief summary is presented below. 

The dissertation aims to reveal the students’ body image and the educational possibilities for its correction. Two studies were carried out in order to achieve this goal: the first one is a one-point study (a representative survey of students) and the second one is an educational quasi-experiment. The first study aimed to compare body image and related behaviours between gender, body mass index and physical activity groups, to comprehensively assess the associations of lifestyle factors, body image and related behaviours with quality of life, and to identify the associations between socio-cultural factors and body image in groups of female students with different body weight. The second study evaluated the effectiveness of an educational programme aimed at enhancing positive body image and promoting healthy lifestyle habits among female students. The single-dimensional study provides scientifically relevant empirical data that may be useful for the development of methodologies for health promotion and enhancement and for the design of integrated programmes to prevent overweight, obesity and eating disorders. The educational quasi-experiment confirms that the implementation of universal health education programmes in higher education institutions aimed at enhancing students’ positive body image requires the inclusion of two components, which include: (a) education based on cognitive behavioural therapy methods on media literacy, ability to accept appearance-related information to protect oneself, stress management, self-esteem building, mindfulness of one’s own body, self-compassion, positive self-talk, body acceptance and awareness of body functionality, and health-promoting physical activity and healthy eating; (b) mindfulness-based physical activity activities.

Dissertation Defense Council

Chair – Prof. dr. Romualdas Malinauskas (Lithuanian Sports University, Social Sciences, Education – S 007)
Prof. dr. Audronė Dumčienė (Lithuanian Sports University, Social Sciences, Education – S 007)
Prof. dr. Remigijus Bubnys (Šiauliai University, Social Sciences, Education – S 007)
Prof. dr. Brigita Janiūnaitė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Education – S 007)
Prof. dr. Zermena Vazne (Latvian Academy of Sports Pedagogy, Social Sciences, Education – S 007)