Enhancing eating disorder content in the tertiary curricula of health disciplines in Australia

Eating disorders are increasing in prevalence and confer serious physical, emotional and social impacts on individuals, families, communities and systems. Tertiary education of health professionals is key to addressing these impacts. Yet, graduates of key health professions may not complete their studies with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to prevent, identify, refer and provide safe care within their role and scope of practice. This study reports on current eating disorder-focused teaching, and opportunities for improvements, within Australian tertiary training programs for key medical and allied health professional groups. Tertiary leaders and educators (n = 205) representing 42 Australian tertiary education institutions (universities and private education organizations) completed an online survey including questions that explored the relevance, importance, barriers and enablers of eating disorder-focused teaching. Three quarters (76.1%) of participants indicated that students had the opportunity to learn about eating disorders within the current curriculum. Identification (54.1%) and treatment (46.3%) were most likely to be taught; prevention (31.2%) and psychological support (38.0%) were less likely to be taught. Most respondents (85.9%) reported that teaching about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within their program was either important (23.9%) or very important (62.0%). Perceived challenges to enhancing content included a crowded curriculum, lack of appropriately skilled educators and lack of clarity regarding basic profession-specific competencies and when these should be taught. Potential facilitators include developing materials and networks for implementing best practice training, support of accreditation/professional bodies and use of lived experience educators. Most Australian healthcare educators consider eating disorders important and relevant to their curricula. However, there are limited time and practical opportunities for learning about eating disorders within current curricula. There is a need for guidance and resource development to help support educators to enhance eating disorder content in relevant curricula. Of the 205 health professional educators that responded to the survey, most but not all provide an opportunity for students to learn about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image. Eating disorders are seen as an important clinical teaching area, particularly because of the severity, impact and increasing prevalence. However, barriers to including eating disorder content included competing with an already full curriculum and difficulty providing practical learning. Despite these barriers, educators described the need for contemporary, best practice teaching materials and a variety of learning opportunities aligned with discipline specific frameworks and scope would help support educators to provide appropriate, evidenced-based eating disorder content to students.