Physician Assistant Links Social Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorder Development in Capstone

By the time Shannon McCabe, PA ‘23, reached the end of her academic journey at Salus University, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in aesthetics and plastics. “I really really do enjoy those fields,” she said in reference to her aesthetics rotation, “I felt like it was so rewarding… just the difference in their face when they would get something done at the aesthetics office and be like ‘Wow! I look so much better.’ It was really boosting. I love the energy, and the environment was so cool, to be able to make people feel better about themselves.”

Despite all of the exciting things about this profession, McCabe knew it was important to recognize the struggles that come with it too. “On a few of my rotations, especially my cosmetic and plastic rotations, there were a lot of individuals I found that would show us a picture and be like I want to look like this girl on Instagram,” she said.

McCabe discussed the growing impact of social media on self esteem, especially with the use of filters. “I feel like now there’s so many apps like Facetune, where individuals can just totally distort themselves to look so much better and then you’re like why do I not look like that?,” she said. 

This was the conflict that led her to her capstone topic, which explored whether social media has a positive or negative effect on females with eating disorders. Her research looked specifically into women with anorexia.

McCabe described the research process as “harder than expected,” especially since studies tend to group all eating disorders together, and she was looking for articles that solely focused on individuals with anorexia nervosa. She did find though that not only do women statistically use social media more, but they are also more likely to develop anorexia. “It’s kind of like a double whammy,” she said. Despite this, she also found evidence of how this issue was being addressed through things like apps and support groups. She was eager to see how this could be of use in the aesthetics profession. “I feel like working in that industry you see a lot of individuals with either anorexia or body dysmorphic disorder and it would be nice just to see how to educate them on that,” she said.  

McCabe is looking to finish her board exams before moving to Nashville, Tennessee. She hopes to start in general medicine before working her way up to the world of aesthetics and plastics.