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Addressing Sporting Pressures on athletes’ body Image and Relationships with Eating and exercise

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Why ASPIRE?

We know that elite athletes face many pressures, including on their bodies, eating, and exercise, which can impact performance, physical health, and mental wellbeing. We hope to achieve the following outcomes through the ASPIRE study:

  1. Improved understanding of how these pressures impact elite athletes, their performance and health.
  2. Improved assessment of problematic body image concerns, eating and exercise behaviours in elite athletes.
  3. Informing the development and modification of interventions specifically tailored for elite athletes, which can be used to help restore optimal health and performance.

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How can I get involved?

We want to extend a HUGE thank you to the 230+ current and former athletes who joined up to participate in the study! We are not currently recruiting any further athletes at this time; however, there are still ways that you can get involved.

  1. If you are one of the 230+ athletes who have already signed up and completed the baseline survey, make sure that you look out for the follow-up surveys (6 months and 12 months after you completed the original survey). This will provide critical information to help shape the future of elite sport in Australia and around the world – plus you can get an extra gift card for each follow-up survey that you complete!
  2. If you wanted more information about the study or if you wanted to share more about your experiences as an elite athlete please, reach out to our research team via email: aspire@westernsydney.edu.au
  3. We have already begun to dig into some of the initial data and we will be sharing these findings as widely as possible so that they can make a big impact. Follow us on social media to get updates about the study, our findings, and how they are making an impact in sporting organisations and networks! IG: @the_aspire_study (opens in a new window)| Twitter/X: @ASPIRE_WSU (opens in a new window)

Meet the team

Find out more about the team

Scott Fatt

Scott is a PhD researcher at the Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University and a clinical psychologist. His interests include understanding how body image, and extreme eating and exercise behaviours impact on individuals, and the balance of optimal health and performance.

Aspire - Scott 

Dr Deborah Mitchison

Deborah is a NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow at the Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University and a clinical psychologist. Her research is directed at reducing the burden of eating disorders and associated body image problems within the population.

Aspire - Deb 

Prof. Phillipa Hay

Phillipa is a Professor of Mental Health at the Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University and a Psychiatrist. She is recognised internationally for her expertise in reducing the personal and public health burden of eating disorders and obesity.

Phillipa 

A/Prof. Emma George

Emma is an Associate Professor at the Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University. With a background in physical activity and health promotion, her research aims to promote lifelong physical activity and improve health outcomes.

Aspire - Emma 

Nikki Jeacocke

Nikki is a Senior Sports Dietitian and the Disordered Eating Project Lead at the Australian Institute of Sport.  She has worked extensively in high performance sport and has specialist expertise working with athletes and organisations in the prevention, early identification and management of disordered eating and eating disorders.

Aspire - Nikki