Increasing Eating Disorder Screening and Early Intervention in the Mental Health Setting

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to increase provider knowledge and self-perceived confidence with eating disorder screening by implementing an eating disorder educational training for mental health providers.

Background: Eating disorders have incredibly high prevalence and mortality rates. This is a significant concern as patients receiving mental health services are at increased risk of eating disorder development. Provider knowledge-based deficits identify a need for increased education of eating disorder symptoms and screening. The Sick Control One Stone Fat and Food (SCOFF) is a reliable and validated screening tool that can aid providers in identifying adverse eating behaviors for further evaluation of a potential comorbid eating disorder.

Methods: This QI project utilized a quantitative pretest/posttest design. Mental health providers viewed a 20-minute educational PowerPoint voice-over recording, which discussed eating disorder comorbidity with other mental health conditions, comorbid eating disorder symptoms, and eating disorder screening. Providers answered application questions of the educational concepts through a case vignette. Participants completed the pretest/posttest questionnaires through Qualtrics and the educational training through Panopto. Statistical analysis via the paired t-test was conducted to assess the impact of the educational training on provider knowledge and self-perceived confidence.

Results: The total data collection span was over one week. Final analysis was conducted on the data from 11 providers who completed both the pretest and posttest. After completing the eating disorder educational training, providers reported increased self-perceived confidence in recognizing comorbid eating disorder symptoms (p = 0.03). Provider knowledge levels also increased, as evidenced by a higher number of correct answers on the case vignette (p = 0.0004). On average, providers reported they were agreeable to utilizing an eating disorder screening tool in practice. Additionally, 91% of the providers found the education informative.

Conclusion: This QI project supports increased eating disorder screening education as a means of improving provider knowledge and self-perceived confidence. Further expansion will be determined by clinic leadership, who received these findings in an executive summary. This QI project identifies a significant deficit in provider knowledge and highlights the need for continued education to address practice barriers toward eating disorder screening.