Hemal Shroff

• PhD
• Consultant at Toronto District School Board

Eating pathology is increasingly common among Indian adolescents. However, brief validated measures of disordered eating in Indian contexts are scarce. This study adapted and validated a culturally appropriate English language version of the Child Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (ChEDE-Q) among 385 adolescents (mean age = 13.42 years; 47....

Body dissatisfaction is highly prevalent among adolescents in low- and middle- income countries, including in India. However, evidence-based interventions are lacking. This study evaluated the efficacy of a school-based mixed-gender body image intervention among adolescents in India. A randomized controlled trial was conducted among 568 (43 % girls...

This pilot study evaluated the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a culturally adapted school-based body image intervention, Dove Confident Me, for use in urban India. Two private schools in New Delhi were randomly assigned at the school level to receive either the five-session intervention facilitated by trained psychologists or lessons-as-...

Body image research is growing in India; however, there are no psychometrically valid measures to assess body image concerns among an Indian population. In this study, the Body Esteem Scale for Adults and Adolescents (BESAA) underwent adaptation and validation among urban Indian adolescents in English. Cultural adaptations were made in consultation...

Few studies have validated body image related measures in Asian countries, including in India, thus stunting research progress. To provide a robust method of assessing internalisation of cultural appearance ideals, the purpose of this study was to validate a culturally appropriate English version of the Internalisation-General subscale from the Soc...

Objective Eating pathology is a salient issue in India, with clinical features reported among adults and adolescents. However, there are currently no validated measures of disordered eating in the Indian context. The present study therefore aimed to validate a culturally appropriate English language version of the Eating Disorder Examination Quest...

This study was conducted to explore the experiences of educators with mealtime behaviours of children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in schools, and to explore the strategies undertaken in schools to improve nutrition among these children. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 educators of various special schools across Mu...

This chapter is a comprehensive review of the current status of nutrition among adolescents and youth in India. It presents contemporary literature on the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity among these subpopulations and highlights areas where there is inadequate data. The prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies among Indian adolesc...

Research among Western adult and adolescent males suggests that sociocultural influences are implicated in the drive for muscularity and weight-change behaviors. However, few studies have examined these relationships among adolescent boys from non-Western backgrounds. The current study sought to assess the psychometric properties of the Sociocultur...

Objective: This study was conducted to assess the dietary intake, food refusal, and nutritional status of younger and older children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Mumbai, India, and to understand the relationships between these variables and mealtime behaviors and sensory integration. Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional stu...

Body image concerns of adolescents in rural India have rarely been studied, especially those of adolescent boys. The aim of the study was to compare body image dissatisfaction among adolescent boys and girls in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu. The relationships between various interpersonal and social factors and body image dissatisfaction among the...

The use of skin fairness products that frequently contain toxic ingredients is associated with significant adverse health side effects. Due to the high prevalence of use in Asian and African countries, skin fairness product use is recognized as a growing public health concern. The multi-million-dollar skin fairness product industry has also been cr...

Cognitive theories are more prominent among the theories that explain the etiology and maintenance of OCD as well as among those that offer treatment options. Metacognition is a concept included within the newer theories and models within the cognitive perspective. This is a review of literature with particular focus on the concept of metacognition...

Teachers play an important role in the diagnosis and management of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There are no published studies on Indian teachers’ knowledge of ADHD. In the present study, the aim was to assess knowledge and misperceptions about ADHD among schoolteachers in Mumbai. A total of 106 teachers from 12 English-medium s...

The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4) is a 22-item five-factor measure that assesses thin- and muscular-ideal internalization as well as appearance-related pressures from peers, family, and media. The scale has been validated in Western cultures, but has not yet been examined in Eastern samples. Two studies were c...

Sociocultural appearance-related pressures and appearance ideal internalization have been extensively studied in female populations and found to be strongly related with disordered eating and poor body image. Limited research among adult and adolescent males indicates that sociocultural influences are related to drive for muscularity and strategies...

The objectives of this study were to explore differences in exposure to media messages (pro- and antitobacco messages, marketing and promotions) between students consuming tobacco, areca nut, nonconsumers, and those intending to quit and to examine differences between municipal and private school students. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey was comple...

To examine the tripartite influence model of body image and eating disturbance as a viable sociocultural explanation for the development of eating and body image problems with young Japanese females. A sample of 289 Japanese female undergraduates completed a variety of measures designed to index family, peer, and media influences, as well as levels...

Excessive exercise and motor restlessness are observed in a substantial number of patients with eating disorders. This trait has been studied extensively among animal models of activity anorexia nervosa (AN) and may hold particular interest as an endophenotype for AN. We explored features associated with excessive exercise across subtypes of eating...

A sample of 344 adolescent girls completed a variety of measures designed to index the associations among peer influences, body-image dissatisfaction, eating dysfunction and self-esteem. Results indicated that participants were significantly similar to their nominated friends on self-esteem, but not body image or eating disturbance. Peer measures w...

The goal of this study was to evaluate peer-related influences on appearance, body dissatisfaction, eating disturbance, and self-esteem in average weight, at risk of overweight, and overweight adolescent girls. Three hundred twenty-five adolescent girls from high schools in Florida were assessed. Ninety met criteria for being at risk of overweight...

A brief measure of internalization of societal norms regarding appearance was developed and validated on six early adolescent female samples (mean ages 11.7-13.3) from three countries (US, Australia, India; total n = 2210). Internal consistency levels were uniformly high in all samples, ranging from 0.83 to 0.92. Convergent validity estimates were...

The current study was designed to examine the relationships among the variables of body mass index (BMI), interpersonal teasing, media internalization, body dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness in samples of young adult and middle school females from India. Ninety-six adolescent and 93 adult females from Bombay, India, completed measures of body...

Research has documented the impact of peer influences on adolescents for health risk behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol. However, few studies have done an in-depth investigation of peer-related risk and protective factors affecting body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among adolescent girls. The study sample consisted of 344 adole...

Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2001. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-82).