EDIP- Eating Disorder Inpatient

The factors leading to young people with eating disorders being referred for Inpatient Admission

What is this study about?
Eating disorders have become more common among young people, starting at younger ages. Services are receiving a rise in referrals, leading to more admissions and longer hospital stays. To lower hospital admissions, it is important for us to understand the needs and experiences of those young people needing inpatient treatment.

This study aims to gather qualitative evidence to explore the reasons why young people are referred to inpatient units, what treatment has already been offered, how they responded to the treatment, how admission is perceived and if/how these factors could be mitigated without admission.

What is involved?
Once we have assessed your eligibility, we will be in touch with further information and consent forms. We will also arrange a meeting before the interview to make sure you are as comfortable with us as possible and so we can put any reasonable adjustments in place. Once consented, we will get in touch to arrange a time and place for the interview. For those ages 12-15 we will require parental permission and consent for you to take part in the study.

These can be conducted either face to face or online. These interviews will explore young people’s understanding of what led to the need for referral to an inpatient unit.

Who can take part?
Inclusion criteria included;

  1. age 12–18 years
  2. Have experience of being referred for psychiatric inpatient admission for eating disorder treatment.

They will be excluded if they do not meet this criteria and/or have significant risks to themselves or others within 3 months of being recruited.

Those who have not come to us via a clinician and are contacting us independently will have their eligibility check done by the Clinician in our team, Dr Clare Fenton.

How can people get involved?
Professionals, young people and their families can get in touch via email. Contact: agnes.wood2@nhs.net and amelia.taylor2@nhs.net.