Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Acknowledged
Commission and fund new research into causes of body image dissatisfaction and social media impact.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Department of Health and Social Care, along with the National Institute for Health Research, commission and fund new research to understand the causal pathways that are leading to a rise in body image dissatisfaction across the population and the impact of social media on body image. This is of particular importance in relation to groups that are known to be particularly affected by body image dissatisfaction: for example, adolescents, people with disabilities and LGBT people. However, it is also vital for groups in relation to which the understanding of body image dissatisfaction is less clear, such as those from BAME communities and older people. (Paragraph 31) Impact of body image on health and lifestyle
Government Response Summary
The government highlighted NIHR's significant existing mental health research funding and openness to applications on body image, noting ongoing collaborations for eating disorders research. It stated that NIHR will continue to explore ways to address the recommendation for new research into the causal pathways of body image dissatisfaction.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
DHSC commissions research through NIHR . In 2021 to 2022, NIHR spent approximately £120 million on mental health research, which reflects a significant year-on-year increase in investment. There is recent and ongoing research in relation to aspects of the areas raised in the recommendation. It is not usual practice for NIHR to ring-fence funding for particular topics or conditions – however, NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including body image. Qualitative research on young people’s experience of online eating disorder content has recently been published. Further to this, NIHR is partnering with the Medical Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Medical Research Foundation to fund new collaborations to support eating disorders research . A key objective of this initiative is to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration by mobilising academia, industry, the charity sector, local authorities and service providers from associated areas to align their interest to eating disorders research. The specification welcomes proposals into “socio-cultural risk and protective factors, including body image and social media” and encourages applicants to consider under-represented groups living with eating disorders, including but not limited to: middle-aged and older individuals ethnic minorities LGBT individuals neurodiverse individuals In August 2021, NIHR launched an ambitious Mental Health Research Initiative spanning NIHR -funded programmes and infrastructure, which included a £30 million investment to rebalance the scale of mental health research through: broadening and understanding current mental health research capacity supporting research collaborations across NIHR funding high-quality mental health research The initiative has a focus on regions and groups where mental health research is most needed, including children and young people, ethnic minorities, and people with pre-existing physical health conditions. NIHR will continue to explore ways to address this recommendation for research that seeks to understand the causal pathways that are leading to a rise in body image dissatisfaction across the population and the impact of social media on body image.