Elizabeth Pummell

56287756400

Publications - 2

Tracking the shift from health to harm: Development and validation of a short screening tool for orthorexia nervosa (STONE)

Publication Name: Appetite

Publication Date: 2025-10-01

Volume: 214

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Orthorexia Nervosa (ON), a problematic fixation on healthy eating, has captured researchers' attention for over a decade. We aimed to develop a brief screening tool for ON that captures physical appearance as a motivating factor, behavioural aspects (rigid control over food selection, consumption and preparation), and nutritional aspects (avoidance of foods considered “impure”). Using a sequential, iterative design, 687 participants completed a self-reported survey across four studies: item identification and selection through exploratory factor analysis (n = 248), testing factorial construct validity with confirmatory factor analysis (n = 127), discriminant validity via known group differences (n = 241), and test-retest reliability of two subsequent administrations of the selected items (n = 71). The final unidimensional version of the short Screening Tool for Orthorexia Nervosa (STONE) comprises eight items. It demonstrated excellent known-group validity and ability to differentiate ON from other types of strict dietary control (e.g., health-based or religious restrictions). Consistent with the view of ON as behaviours aimed at rigid dietary control, avoidance of “impure” foods, and motivation to enhance physical appearance, STONE scores positively related to measures of eating pathology and appearance orientation, while only weakly correlating with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Based on its psychometric properties, STONE is recommended as a first-level screening tool for ON in research contexts and epidemiology studies among adults. Due to its brevity, it can be easily combined with other scales to explore ON or related phenomena. Future studies should examine convergent validity and test it among adolescents and in different cultural contexts.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2025.108227

Mapping doping-related criminal legislation together: An informed stakeholder consultation

Publication Name: Performance Enhancement and Health

Publication Date: 2026-05-01

Volume: 14

Issue: 2

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Access to reliable, jurisdiction-specific information on the existence and scope of doping-related criminal legislation is essential for understanding how anti-doping policies are interpreted and enforced globally. While the globally adopted World Anti-Doping Code provides a private regulatory framework for sporting sanctions, governments have introduced doping-related criminal laws that vary in scope, legal form, and underlying rationale. In the absence of a centralised legal resource, navigating this policy space becomes complex and challenging. This study addresses this gap by combining desk research with a multilingual, semi-structured informed stakeholder consultation to map the presence and scope of doping-related criminal legislation, identifying at least thirty-seven jurisdictions that have criminalised doping-related behaviours and enabling the development of five legislative typologies: comprehensive, trafficking-focused, child protection, context-specific, and fraud-based models. These typologies reveal variations in the behaviours targeted, definitions employed, and penalties applied. Such divergences raise important questions about the coherence of global anti-doping efforts, particularly regarding the definition of doping and the interaction between public and private sanctioning. This study also demonstrates the potential viability of a distributed, multi-actor approach to legal data gathering and supports the development of a dynamic, centralised legal database to advance transparency, equity, and evidence-informed anti-doping governance.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.peh.2026.100413