Development and Evaluation of a Training Program for Mental Health Clinicians in Evidence-Based Eating Disorders Treatment

Mental health clinicians working in outpatient clinics frequently receive little to no training in the treatment of pediatric eating disorders. This dearth of training has led to insufficient access to care for these critically ill patients in their communities. The goal of this study was to describe the development and evaluation of a novel training program for mental health clinicians. Five clinicians working in an outpatient psychiatry clinic within an academic medical center were enrolled in a six-month training program. Their comfort/competence in the delivery of eating disorder treatment and overall knowledge around diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders was evaluated at baseline, one month, and six months. Clinicians reported their comfort in making the diagnosis of an eating disorder went from low or very low pre-training to moderate or high at six months. Further, they rated their comfort with providing the necessary treatment for patients with eating disorders as low or very low pre-training compared to moderate or high at six months. These clinicians were able to regularly incorporate eating disorder patients on their caseloads, thus increasing access to care in the clinic. Future training would benefit from more experiential learning and ongoing institutional support to prevent drift from evidence-based treatments for mental health clinicians working with eating disorder patients.