Examining the Effectiveness of a Wait List Intervention for the Management of Adolescent Eating Disorders

Examining the Effectiveness of a Wait List Intervention for the Management of Adolescent Eating Disorders

Examining the Effectiveness of a Wait List Intervention for the Management of Adolescent Eating Disorders

The current application targets patient education and enablement, implementation of best practices, continuity of care, and an improvement model to improve efficiencies by investigating whether a brief targeted intervention prior to the first formal ED assessment is efficacious in altering outcome and treatment course.

The Eating Disorder Program at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) offers a continuum of treatment options to child and adolescent patients with eating disorders (EDs). Although our own funding has increased in recent years, so too have the number of referrals, which has resulted in lengthy wait times for therapeutic assessments by our team. The current application targets patient education and enablement, implementation of best practices, continuity of care, and an improvement model to improve efficiencies by investigating whether a brief targeted intervention prior to the first formal ED assessment is efficacious in altering outcome and treatment course. It is well known that early recognition and implementation of treatment as soon as possible after the onset of symptoms is protective in eating disorders and leads to better success rates and recovery (APA Treatment Guidelines for EDs). It is hoped that the outcome of this study will influence the way in which centers look to address the ongoing issue of lengthy wait times in hopes of offering cost-effective interventions that ultimately improve patient outcomes. By offering an added level of support to families whose referral has been initiated, we hope to ease the burden of primary care providers and increase their satisfaction as it relates to patient safety concerns and complex case management.

The intervention involves completion of a single workshop, provision of psychoeducational materials, and regular telephone support with a specially trained nurse-coordinator to parents of youth on our waiting list, within a month of our receiving the referral.

The intervention involves completion of a single workshop (delivered by a psychiatrist and adolescent health physician), provision of psycho educational materials, and regular telephone support with a specially trained nurse-coordinator to parents of youth on our waiting list.

Investigate whether a wait list intervention for patients and families who are on a wait list, improves patient presentation at the time of formal assessment, as well as 6-months post-assessment

Evaluate the impact that a wait list intervention group workshop has on caregiver knowledge, stress, and self-efficacy pertaining to eating disorders and their treatment

Inclusion Criteria: medical stability at time of referral completed referral to the Eating Disorders Program Exclusion Criteria: patients deemed medically unstable are triaged urgently and not eligible for study inclusion