Understanding the Functional Impact of Eating Disorders to Inform Rehabilitation
2025 Award: $58,756
Eating disorders can have devastating impacts on school, work, and relationships similar to the impacts of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other severe psychiatric illness. While interventions exist to address these effects for people with other psychiatric conditions, there are currently no interventions tailored specifically to the needs of individuals with eating disorders. In this study we will gain insight into the nature of challenges in these areas directly from both people with eating disorders and caregivers or partners to inform the design of future interventions.
Need/Problem: Adults with eating disorders can have impairment in educational attainment, employment, social relationships, and health-related quality of life. While psychiatric rehabilitation interventions have been designed to address these challenges for people with other psychiatric illnesses, there are no targeted interventions to address these needs in people with eating disorders.
Grant Summary: We will interview adults with eating disorders and caregivers to understand the impact of eating disorders on multiple functional domains. We will use this information to identify the highest priority areas for a rehabilitation intervention.
Goals & Projected Outcomes: The goal of this study is to obtain lived-experience perspectives on the impact of eating disorders on functioning in areas such as school; work; familial, peer, and romantic relationships; and community engagement. The data from this study will support a future grant proposal to develop and test an intervention based on the psychiatric rehabilitation model to support individuals with eating disorders in improving their confidence and functioning in these domains.
Grant Details: Eating disorders can have devasting effects on educational attainment, employment, and relationships. While multiple psychiatric rehabilitation interventions have been designed to address the effects of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other conditions typically considered “serious mental illnesses,” they remain untested in individuals with eating disorders. In this project we will examine the particular impact of eating disorders on these functional domains and identify priority targets for intervention in two phases. In Phase 1, we will conduct ~30 semi-structured interviews with patients and caregivers/partners. Phase 2 will include 4 focus groups with 5 participants each (two groups with patients and two with caregivers/partners) who did not participate in Phase 1. Findings from this study will serve as the groundwork for development of a tailored psychiatric rehabilitation intervention for people with eating disorders.
