The purpose of the thesis was to develop a checklist for school nurses to identify the risk of eating disorders in adolescents. The objective was to enhance the readiness of school nurses to recognize and to raise the topic about the risk of eating disorders in adolescents as early as possible. The thesis was conducted as a functional thesis project and was carried out in connection to the Youth Weight Management project. The topic is important and timely, as eating disorders have increased in recent years and their identification and raising the topic are perceived as challenging.

As a tangible outcome, a checklist for identifying the risk of eating disorders in adolescents was developed, which also serves as a tool for raising the topic. The checklist lists eating disorder risks, actions to take when risks are identified, and provides concrete instructions and example sentences for raising the topic. The checklist helps to detect a possible eating disorder risk in adolescents, enabling intervention at the earliest possible stage. Early intervention has been shown to improve the prognosis of eating disorders and shorten the duration of illness.

The theoretical framework of the thesis was based on eating disorders, identification of eating disorder risks, and raising the topic about eating disorder risks. The theoretical background discusses different types of eating disorders, their symptoms, risk factors, protective factors, treatment, and the specific characteristics of adolescents with eating disorders. The checklist was developed based on the theoretical framework, and Finnish and international scientific research and other high-quality sources on the topic were utilized in its development. Feedback on the checklist was gathered from the project team, The Eating Disorder Association of Finland, and school nurses during the development phase, and based on the feedback received, the checklist was improved to be of higher quality. Finally, feedback on the final checklist was collected through a survey from the same groups. Based on the responses, it was believed that the checklist would increase the readiness of school nurses to identify the risk of eating disorders and to raise the topic about eating disorder risks. The checklist can be further developed by collecting information on school nurses' experiences using the checklist and investigating the significance of different risk factors that would enhance the reliability of the checklist.