草莓污视频导航

Nov. 30, 2022

Initiative supports youth with eating disorders as they transition to adult care programs

New 草莓污视频导航 research looks to make this transition much easier
Gina Dimitropoulos wearing a purple blazer in front of fall foliage.
Gina Dimitropoulos. Kloie Picot, for the Faculty of Social Work

When youth with an eating disorder reach the age of 18, they are typically required to move to adult treatment. Connecting with a new system of supports can be tricky and stressful. Researchers at the 草莓污视频导航 are establishing and implementing a standardized approach to support youth as they transfer to adult services.

鈥淎 lot of young people fall between the system cracks,鈥 says 草莓污视频导航 Faculty of Social Work researcher Dr. Gina Dimitropoulos, PhD. 鈥淭hen they end up having difficulties accessing services, which only makes their eating disorder worse while they're waiting for care.鈥

Dimitropoulos is the principal investigator behind TransitionED: Co-Designing and Implementing Canadian Practice Guidelines for Transitions for Youth and Young Adults with Eating Disorder, which is being supported over four years, through a Transitions in Care grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The national project brings a wide spectrum of voices into the conversation, including researchers, policy-makers, decision-makers and young people and their families from eating disorder programs across Canada.

Eating disorders on the rise with COVID

Eating disorders exact a terrible toll on youth, their loved ones, and society. COVID-19 has only heightened the need for this research. Last year, Dimitropoulos revealing a 60 per cent rise in hospitalizations for paediatric eating disorders. These disorders can be fatal and have one of the highest mortality rates of all psychiatric illnesses. It鈥檚 estimated that in 2017-18, eating disorder treatment cost the health-care system an average of $24,017 per patient.

During the first phase of the study, the research team will bring together key stakeholders and, using a consensus-building methodology, identify potential changes to services and policies that could better support youth in making a successful transition to adulthood and adult-focused services.

Guidelines with a health equity lens

Dimitropoulos says that the guidelines will also be crafted with a health equity lens. Young people from historically marginalized populations can develop eating disorders as a means of coping with the trauma of racism, or to conform to western beauty standards. As a result, they may hesitate to seek treatment.

鈥淲e recognize that there are many young people who, for a whole host of reasons including social determinants, racism, implicit biases, don't even access needed services for eating disorders,鈥 she says.

鈥淪o, we're working with scholars and providers who work with Indigenous youth, racialized youth, 2SLGBTQQIA+ and those experiencing economic disparities who may have unique challenges or barriers and may therefore need support to launch into adulthood and to transition to adult-focused care.鈥

In the second phase of the study, stakeholders will work together to implement the newly developed guidelines, including service-level interventions in a variety of settings. In the final phase, researchers will test the approaches through a pilot project.

In the third phase of the study, the team will evaluate the implementation of the transition interventions in the Calgary Eating Disorder Program, Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital and McMaster Children鈥檚 Hospital Eating Disorder Program.

鈥淲e're going to see what happens as we try to support these young people,鈥 says Dimitropoulos, anticipating the kinds of questions they will need to answer. 鈥淎re we able to successfully do this? Were there challenges, barriers, facilitators? How can we address them before we scale up these guidelines across other eating disorder programs in Canada and internationally?鈥

Gina Dimitopoulos is an associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work, the research lead for the Calgary Eating Disorder Program and a member of the and at the .

 

Child Health and Wellness
The 草莓污视频导航 is driving science and innovation to transform the health and wellbeing of children and families. Led by the, top scientists across the campus are partnering with , the , and our community to create a better future for children through research.