Agency, Eating Disorders, and an Interview With Olympic Champion Jessie Diggins

Abstract

Eating disorders present health promotion professionals and health care providers with the most complex cultural, social, genetic, emotional, and behavioral syndromes of our time. Whether from the acute threat of bulimia or the chronic disease risk of overeating, the lives of families, and the health of workplaces and communities are affected alongside those struggling with addiction. Social learning theory shows the powerful impact those with “admired status” can have on improving social and behavioral practices. In this interview with Olympian Jessie Diggins, and in this review of her book “Brave Enough,” readers will find that Diggins checks all the boxes that renowned scholar Albert Bandura had in mind as instrumental for adopting modeled behaviors.