Enhancing Eating Disorder Content in the Tertiary Curricula of Health Disciplines in Australia

Enhancing Eating Disorder Content in the Tertiary Curricula of Health Disciplines in Australia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Enhancing Eating Disorder Content in the Tertiary Curricula of Health Disciplines in Australia Emma Spiel, Leah Brennan, Phillipa Hay, Genevieve Pepin, Alexandra M Murray, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6528338/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Eating Disorders → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background : Eating disorders are increasing in prevalence and confer serious physical, emotional and social impacts on individuals, families, communities and systems. Tertiary education of health professionals is key to addressing these impacts. Yet, graduates of key health professions may not complete their studies with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to prevent, identify, refer and provide safe care within their role and scope of practice. This study reports on current eating disorder-focused teaching, and opportunities for improvements, within Australian tertiary training programs for key medical and allied health professional groups. Methods : Tertiary leaders and educators (n=205) representing 42 Australian tertiary education institutions completed an online survey including closed and open text questions exploring the relevance, importance, barriers and enablers of eating disorder-focused teaching. Results : Three quarters (76.1%) of participants indicated that students had the opportunity to learn about eating disorders within the current curriculum. Identification (54.1%) and treatment (46.3%) were most likely to be taught ; prevention (40.5%) and eating disorder safe care (31.2%) were less likely to be taught. Most respondents (85.9%) reported that teaching about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within their program was either important (23.9%) or very important (62.0%). Perceived challenges to enhancing content included a crowded curriculum, lack of appropriately skilled educators and lack of clarity regarding basic profession-specific competencies and when these should be taught. Potential facilitators include developing materials and networks for implementing best practice training, support of accreditation/professional bodies and use of lived experience educators. Conclusions : Most Australian healthcare educators consider eating disorders important and relevant to their curricula. However, there are limited time and practical opportunities for learning about eating disorders within current curricula. There is a need for guidance and resource development to help support educators to enhance eating disorder content in relevant curricula. Tertiary Eating Disorder Body Image Nutrition Workforce Education Teaching Training Curricula Pedagogy Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Plain Language Summary Of the 205 health professional educators that responded to the survey, most but not all provide an opportunity for students to learn about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image. Eating disorders are seen as an important clinical teaching area, particularly because of the severity, impact and increasing prevalence. However, barriers to including eating disorder content included competing with an already full curriculum and difficulty providing practical learning. Despite these barriers, educators described the need for contemporary, best practice teaching materials and a variety of learning opportunities aligned with discipline specific frameworks and scope would help support educators to provide appropriate, evidenced-based eating disorder content to students. Introduction Eating disorders are complex and serious conditions with the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric conditions (1, 2). They confer substantial individual and systemic impacts, including a range of physical health risks from mild to life-threatening (3, 4), impact upon families, and confer significant economic burden in Australia. Specifically, eating disorders are estimated to cost billions of dollars annually, due to healthcare costs, lost productivity, and social impacts (5, 6). In Australia, eating disorder prevalence is estimated to be between 4-16% (7), comparable to that of more commonly understood and identified conditions such as diabetes (8, 9). Globally, eating disorder prevalence (10) and severity (7) has been increasingly significantly, affecting people of all ages, backgrounds, body sizes, neurotypes, and genders (7, 11). Early identification and intervention have been shown to reduce the severity and impact of eating disorders (12, 13). Around 70% of individuals impacted by eating disorders and associated issues report not being linked with appropriate health professionals for treatment, suggesting no changes in the level of unmet need for treatment since 1989 (14, 15). There is also significant delay in accessing treatment, with the average duration of untreated eating disorder found to be approximately 2.5 - 5.6 years depending on the eating disorder diagnosis (15, 16). Furthermore, only around 20% of people who receive treatment will receive eating disorder specific treatment (9, 14). Early identification and support to access treatment are identified as key to addressing unmet need and supporting people to access care as early in their eating disorder as possible ((13). Despite the worldwide increase in prevalence and severity of eating disorders, and the recognised importance of early identification, health professionals consistently report being underprepared to be able to effectively identify potential eating disorders (17), support people to access treatment and care (18), and provide an evidence-based response within the scope of their role (19, 20). People with lived experience of an eating disorder and their loved ones report that interactions with health professionals who do not have these skills can cause substantial iatrogenic harm including negative experiences that worsen their health or hinder their opportunity for recovery. This includes failure to detect eating disorder symptoms and support timely diagnosis (20), perpetuating stigma (21, 22) and/or inadvertently reinforcing disordered attitudes or behaviours (23). This lack of understanding about how to identify warning signs and support people to access the care they need means that diagnosis of an eating disorder may not occur until physical symptoms become severe and thus require longer and more intensive treatment (20), with potential for wide ranging, negative impacts on quality of life, and treatment outcome. However, many health professionals do not receive this training. A 2016 literature reviewed the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professional who care for patients with eating disorders (24). This review reported that health professionals are frequently undertrained, inadequately resourced, and affected by negative attitudes, all of which are barriers to effective care (24). In Australia, current evidence suggests that there are not sufficient numbers of health professionals seeking post-qualification professional development in eating disorders to meet the needs of people experiencing eating disorders (25-28). Despite the likely benefit of a health and mental health workforce able to identify and refer people experiencing an eating disorder to appropriate care, the coverage of eating disorder education within the tertiary education programs of key health and mental health profession groups within Australia, and potential mechanisms for enhancing this training, are currently unknown. The aim of this study was therefore to review the current state of eating disorder teaching within tertiary training programs for key medical and allied health professional groups (General Practitioners, Psychiatrists, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Dietitians, and Social Workers); it further aimed to identify potential opportunities for enhancing the quality, breadth, or reach of tertiary, eating disorder-focused teaching. Method Procedure Retrospective ethics approval for this research was granted by Monash Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC Approval Number 45105). Participants University educators and leaders (n=2,471), identified through publicly accessible website contact data, were invited to participate in an online survey regarding the current content of tertiary education programs. The participants who were invited represented n=45 tertiary intuitions (n= 38 universities and n=7 non-university training institutions). Snowball sampling was also used where study participants were encouraged to forward the survey to others who they believed met criteria for participation. The current study reports on data from tertiary leaders and educators who consented for their survey responses to be used for research. Measures Demographic characteristics Participants provided information on several institutional, program and professional characteristics. These included tertiary institution, the national, state or territory location of the institution, discipline (Dietetics, Nursing, General Practice Medicine, Medicine, Midwifery, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Psychiatry, Psychology, Social Work, Other (please specify)), Role (Head of School, Course Convener/Coordinator, Clinical Educator, Lecturer, Sessional/Guest Lecturer, Tutor and Prefer not to say), Degree type/level of the taught course (Bachelor, Certificate, Combined Masters/PhD, Diploma, Doctorate, Fellowship, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Honors, Masters, Masters (qualifying), others (please describe) and Unsure) and the number of students enrolled in the program they taught into (1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-100, 101-200, 201-500, 500+, Unsure, Prefer not to say). Current State: Eating Disorders Teaching A self-report measure was developed specifically for this study, to assess which areas of eating disorder teaching were covered across programs based on competencies for the safe and effective identification of, and response to, eating disorders articulated in the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC) Stepped System of Care for Eating Disorders (29), the National Framework for Eating Disorders Training – A guide for training providers (28), the Australia & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) clinical practice and training standards (25, 26, 30), and the NEDC Workforce Core Competencies (31). Seven categorical (yes/no/unsure) items assessed whether the respondents program taught across seven key areas: eating disorder prevention, safe care, identification, initial response, treatment, and psychosocial and recovery support. Perceived Importance and Relevance of Eating Disorders Teaching The perceived importance of teaching students about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within the curriculum was measured using a 5-point scale (1 = Not at all important to 5 = Very important) . This 5-point scale was also used to assess perceived importance of teaching students about eating disorder safe care. For the purpose of this study, eating disorder safe care was defined as: Content that teaches information and knowledge about (1) Providing care for people experiencing eating disorders, disordered eating or body image concerns in a way which does not exacerbate these existing concerns; and/or (2) Providing routine healthcare in any setting in a way which does not contribute to eating disorder risk (e.g. by avoiding health care practices that over-focus on weight, contribute to body-based stigma or uphold unrealistic ideals about bodies, food and eating behaviour) and promotes protective factors (e.g. promoting weight-inclusive, body esteem building practices). Since data for this study were collected, eating disorder safe principles have been developed which further define this approach (32, 33). Please refer to the supplementary material for language key regarding eating disorder safe principles. The perceived relevance of teaching students about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within the curriculum was measured using a 5-point scale (1 = Not at all relevant to 5 = Very relevant). This 5-point scale was also used to assess perceived relevance of teaching students about eating disorder safe care. Analysis Statistical analyses were completed with SPSS version 29.0.2.0. Categorical variables were reported in terms of frequencies and percentages. Variables with a cell count of <5 were collapsed to maintain anonymity of respondents. Variables which used a 5-point scale were reported as the frequency and percentages of the five points. Variables where multiple responses could be chosen such as program location, level of training, role, the methods in which eating disorder content is covered in the curriculum were reported as frequencies and therefore percentages may add up to >100%. The open text responses provided by the participants were analyzed using qualitative content analysis by one of the authors with expertise in qualitative research. This author is a mental health occupational therapist, professor, and researcher with a longstanding focus on eating disorders, bringing a multifaceted perspective to data analysis. Their clinical experience shaped their understanding of the complexities of eating disorder recovery, while their academic role informs their awareness of how tertiary education environments can both support and hinder mental health. They acknowledge that their professional identity and advocacy for recovery-oriented, person-centred care can influence how they interpret participant narratives. By engaging in ongoing reflexivity and explicitly considering their positionality and reporting results of data analysis to other co-authors, they aim to ensure their interpretations are ethically grounded and critically informed, enhancing the credibility and relevance of this research. Qualitative content analysis focuses on what is explicitly mentioned by participants in the data and is recommended for use with larger data sets like in this study (34). In qualitative content analysis, data is reviewed, coded, categorized and summarized, before being grouped into themes that directly related to the research purpose and questions (34). Therefore, findings from the qualitative content analysis performed on open text questions describe the perspective of the participants with regards to the importance of teaching eating disorder specific content and eating disorder safe care as well as the perceived barriers and enablers to embedding eating disorder content in curricula. Results A total of n=205 participants (8.5% of invited sample), representing n=42 Australian tertiary academic institutions were represented. For educator characteristics please see Table 1. All states and territories were represented with most respondents identifying as course coordinators or lecturers of bachelor and master level degrees. <> Current State: Eating Disorders Teaching Of the 205 participants, n = 156 (76.1%) responded that students had the opportunity to learn about eating disorders within the current curriculum (13.2% no, 10.7 % unsure), and n = 102 (49.8%) responded that students had the opportunity to learn about eating disorder safe care within the current curriculum (26.8% no, 23.4% unsure). Of the respondents whose programs did teach eating disorder related content (n=156, 76.1%), n=83 (40.5%) reported that eating disorder safe care was taught, n=64 (31.2%) Prevention, n=111 (54.1%) Identification, n=81 (39.5%) Response, n=95 (46.3%) Treatment and n=78 (38.0%) Psychosocial support. Of programs that included eating disorder and associated content, teaching was typically delivered as part of a larger module (n=102, 49.8%) and embedded within core curriculum (n=70, 34.1%) and were most commonly presented in the form of lectures (n=100, 48.8%) or case studies (n=82, 40.0%). Only 7.8% (n=16) reported utilizing lived experience within their teaching. <> Of the respondents that provided eating disorder content, 49.5% provided <5 hours of content, 18.3% provided 5-10 hours and 20.5% of respondents were unsure how much content was provided. As shown in Figure 2, in terms of practical experience, there was a broad range of opportunities with 66 courses (32%) providing no eating disorder placement opportunities, 47 offering one or two (22.9%) and one course offering more than 15 hours of eating disorder placement(s) (0.5%). <> Perceived Importance and Relevance of Eating Disorders Teaching As shown in Figure 3, most respondents reported that teaching about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within their program was either important (n=49, 23.9%) or very important (n=127, 62.0%). Most respondents rated identification (86%), and safe care (81%) as most highly relevant (either 4 or 5 on the 5 point-scale), followed by initial response (76%), psychosocial recovery (74%), treatment (72%) and prevention (66%). <> Participants were invited to further describe their view on the importance of teaching students about eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image concerns within the curriculum. Content analysis revealed that answers to this question were varied and discipline specific. However, there seemed to be a common agreement amongst participants that because eating disorders are severe and serious mental illnesses that affect a significant and increasing proportion of the population, as do body image concerns and disordered eating, it is essential for students to learn about eating disorders. Participants noted that what should be taught and where in the curriculum, as well as who is best placed to deliver that content, are mostly unresolved issues. However, participants identified experience and expertise in the field of eating disorders as a requirement to deliver eating disorder-related content. That knowledge would ensure accurate, evidence-based information is presented, fostering students’ understanding of the complexity of eating disorders. Participants provided a range of responses when asked to indicate how important it is to teach students about providing eating disorder safe care. Responses from participants varied from indicating that eating disorder and eating disorder safe care was not ‘core business’ (e.g., psychiatrists, industrial psychologists) through to it being extremely important. Participants who noted that teaching students about eating disorder safe care was important but not central felt that basic communication skills such as using person-first language, respectful behaviours, and recovery focused approaches would be sufficient. Those who answered that teaching eating disorder safe care was very and extremely important felt that this would ensure that students and future clinicians would not contribute to exacerbating eating disorder symptomatology. Perceived challenges and potential facilitators for embedding eating disorders within Tertiary Education As shown in Figure 3, most respondents (79%) rated the level of difficulty of including eating disorder content within the curriculum of the program in which they taught midway between very easy (5) and very difficult (1). The content analysis revealed five themes that considered in combination help identified barriers and enablers to including eating disorders specific content in tertiary curricula. The Curriculum Conundrum Participants commonly described existing curricula as a key barrier to including eating disorder content. Participants commented that curricula are already full, expressing that integrating new material meant that existing content has ot be removed. This tension was further compounded by the positioning of eating disorders as a ‘specialized’ topic, which was frequently seen as less of a priority compared to core competencies emphasized in health education programs across disciplines. In addition to curricular constraints, participants highlighted the limited availability of practical learning opportunities as a significant challenge. Many noted the difficulty in securing clinical placements that offered meaningful engagement with individuals experiencing eating disorders, underscoring a broader gap between theoretical learning and experiential education in this area. The ‘Right’ Knowledge: Who Really Knows What? Participants agreed on the lack of eating disorder-specific expertise within tertiary settings. Many participants spoke of the limited availability of academic staff or clinicians with the necessary knowledge and experience to deliver eating disorder-related content confidently and sensitively. This absence was seen as particularly concerning given the emotionally charged and potentially triggering nature of the subject matter, especially for students who may have personal experience of disordered eating or eating disorders. Several participants emphasized that the presence of qualified and well-supported educators was crucial to ensuring safe and effective learning environments. Additionally, some participants reflected on the challenges of involving individuals with lived experience in curriculum delivery, noting both the value of their insights and the practical difficulties in engaging them meaningfully and ethically in educational contexts. In addition, discipline-specific issues were identified. Several participants reflected on the absence of visible role models within their own professional disciplines who were actively engaged in the field of eating disorders. This lack of disciplinary representation contributed to a sense of disconnection from the field and was perceived as a barrier to both personal engagement and the integration of eating disorder content within their teaching. For some, the marginal presence of their discipline in eating disorder research and practice created uncertainty about how best to position such content within existing curricula, further complicating efforts to embed it meaningfully. The ’So What’ Factor Participants also discussed what they assumed was a lack of interest in their students, questioning the professional relevance of eating disorder-specific content. Some participants observed that student engagement with the topic was minimal, leading them to question the value of incorporating such content into already saturated curricula. Others expressed concerns that eating disorders represented a very small proportion of the client groups they would interact with, were not seen as directly relevant to their discipline, or that the available knowledge in the area was outdated, lacked a strong evidence base, or did not align with the theoretical or practical frameworks of their profession. In some cases, participants noted that the delivery of eating disorder content was expected to come from particular disciplines such as psychiatry or psychology, yet this was often hindered by a lack of trained, knowledgeable, or available staff. These issues collectively highlighted a broader tension between perceived curricular priorities and the integration of specialised, cross-disciplinary mental health topics like eating disorders. ‘Plug-and-Play’: The Appeal of Ready-to-Use Eating Disorder Content Participants discussed the practicality and convenience that would be associated with having access to free, pre-prepared online resources, while using engaging language that reflects their function as immediate, accessible solutions. This seemed to be a practical response to the challenges posed by an already overcrowded curriculum. However, ambiguity remained around how such content would be integrated—whether it would be formally embedded within existing coursework or offered as supplementary, self-directed learning. Notably, participants did not elaborate on who would be responsible for delivering or overseeing this content. Access to clear guidelines also emerged as a perceived facilitator. While often discussed in connection to pre-prepared materials, some participants raised the need for such guidelines independently. Furthermore, the availability of clinical placements—either in eating disorder-specific services or settings where students could engage directly with individuals experiencing eating disorders—was viewed as a critical opportunity for experiential learning. A Stamp of Approval Official endorsements of eating disorder-related content by professional bodies, such as those linked to the Eating Disorder Credential (offered by the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders (ANZAED) and supported by the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC), were seen as lending credibility and weight to the inclusion of this content within tertiary curricula. Participants also highlighted the potential influence of broader institutional recognition, for example, by accrediting bodies such as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) or the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), in legitimizing the importance of eating disorder education across disciplines. Participants also emphasized the value of collaboration with qualified and credentialed academic staff, clinicians, and people with lived experience in both the design and delivery of curriculum content. In particular, opportunities for students to hear personal recovery narratives and engage with eating disorders specific organisations were seen as powerful and impactful educational tools. Discussion The aim of this study was to review the current state of eating disorder teaching within tertiary training programs for key eating disorder related medical and allied health professional groups in Australia, and to identify potential opportunities for enhancing the quality, breadth, or reach of eating disorder-focused teaching. According to our study, most, but not all programs provide an opportunity for students to learn about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image, and around half provide the opportunity to learn about eating disorder safe care. Eating disorders are seen as important areas for teaching, particularly because of their severity, impact and increasing prevalence. However, barriers to including eating disorder content included competing with an already full curriculum and difficulty providing practical learning. Despite these barriers, participants identified that access to contemporary, best practice teaching materials and a variety of learning opportunities aligned with discipline specific frameworks and scope would help support educators to provide appropriate, evidenced-based eating disorder content to students. As outlined in the National Eating Disorders Strategy 2023-2033 (29), actions are required across the full stepped system of care (prevention, early identification, response, treatment and psychosocial support) to better respond to people experiencing eating disorders. In this review of Australian health professional curriculum, most of the courses that provided learning opportunities in eating disorders, disordered eating and body image focused on identification and treatment, with fewer teaching eating disorder safe care, prevention, response and psychosocial support. Given the acknowledged positive impacts of early identification on treatment outcomes (16, 35), it is promising that students in these programs are most likely to learn, and graduate, with skills in identification, especially as students from these disciplines go on to work in diverse fields and specialties. However, there is more to be done in order to realize early identification. A major contributing factor to the prolonged time between symptom onset and treatment is clinician lack of confidence which also leads to missed opportunities for intervention (35), which is substantial as early intervention and early symptom change through evidence-based intervention are some of the strongest predictors of positive outcome (16, 36). This highlights the need for pre-registration training to build capacity in the future workforce and reduce the time between diagnosis and treatment. A noteworthy gap in current programs is the opportunity to teach students skills to engage with people safely around topics of food, body, and eating as part of routine interactions/care without causing harm (I.e., eating disorder safe principles (32, 33). Promisingly, respondents indicated that eating disorders were taught using a variety of traditional teaching modes. However, lecture format was most common, with limited practical learning opportunities and lived experience input. This is a concern as effective and transformational learning requires active student input and opportunities for critical reflection (37). Recently, there have been novel and impactful approaches to healthcare education published in the literature (38). Active lived/living experience input into healthcare education challenges current hierarchies within healthcare. However, lived experience leadership and contribution has been reported to be a critical element in healthcare education to help students develop skills to authentically develop person-centered and inclusive practice (39). Recently, a lived experience collaboration approach utilized in nursing and dietetics has been shown to be an effective and engaging learning approach for eating disorders. Students reported that the two-hour workshop helped students reflect on trauma informed approaches in eating disorders that center the person, not the diagnosis (40). Approaches such as this show that eating disorder education in health care professions can be provided in a way that is transformative, multidisciplinary and supported by educational theory for effective learning. Most programs spend less than five hours teaching eating disorder content. Given the broad focus of this paper, this finding is difficult to interpret. Where programs are at the undergraduate level, less than five hours teaching, if it covers the most relevant content for the level and discipline, could be a judicious use of limited space in the curriculum. For example, previous literature shows that 2-hours of eating disorder content that is supported by education theory and methodology can be effective to help students to consider ways to work with people with eating disorders fostering empathy, dignity and hope (40). However, this falls short of recently adopted Australian national minimum training standards for treating professionals, which specify between 11 and 32 hours of introductory and treatment model training (28, 41). Further, this does not seem to an isolated issue to Australia. American emergency medicine graduates have reported feeling significantly underprepared to work with people with eating disorders (42). Of the doctors sampled 93% were unaware of the appropriate practice guidelines and 85% reported wanting more training to appropriately assess and treat patients that present to emergency departments (42). In line with the perceived challenges and potential facilitators identified in this study, the development of guidance that provides clear learning pathways and materials that align with the discipline, graduate scope of practice, and professional standards could support tertiary institutions to have clarity about minimum standards for what should be taught, when and how many hours and types of learning are required to develop student competency. Furthermore, initiatives that assist in training tertiary educators and/or assist institutions to locate skilled educators could assist in addressing barriers related to eating disorder teaching skill and expertise. Initiatives that benchmark the minimum requirement of eating disorder specific knowledge required of our future health workforce could also assist. A strength of this study was the inclusion of a large and diverse sample of Australian tertiary education programs, spanning multiple disciplines, and across states and territories. This allowed for a comprehensive overview of the current state of eating disorders teaching in key discipline groups and potential mechanisms for change in the Australian context. However, several limitations should be noted. This review was not able to detail the current state of eating disorder teaching at the discipline level (e.g., medicine vs OT) due to low cell counts, nor at program level (e.g., undergraduate, post-graduate) as respondents often taught or were responding according to involvement across multiple program types. Further research detailing profession-specific challenges and potential facilitators for embedding eating disorder content are needed. It is also important to note that this review may be an over-representation of what is being taught, given the potential for response bias in the sample, meaning those interested in eating disorders were more likely to complete the survey. However, it is the first and most comprehensive study completed mapping the current state of eating disorder education in Australia. Conclusion The results of this study show that most healthcare educator respondents consider eating disorder-safe care, prevention, identification, initial response and treatment to be important and relevant elements of their curricula. However, there is limited time in, and limited practical opportunities (e.g., practicum placements) for learning about eating disorders within already full programs of study. This research highlights the need for guidance and resource development to help support educators to advocate for and include eating disorder content in relevant curricula. Abbreviations ANMAC - Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council ANZAED – Australia & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders BMI – Body Mass Index ED – Eating Disorder GP – General Practitioner LE – Lived/Living Experience of an Eating Disorder NEDC – National Eating Disorders Collaboration OT – Occupational therapist RACGP – Royal Australian College of General Practitioners RANZCP - Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists SPSS - Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SW – Social Worker Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate: The Monash Human Research Ethics Committee granted ethics approval for this research (HREC Approval Number 45105). Funding: This work was funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Aged Care through the National Eating Disorders Collaboration core funding. Consent for publication: All participants have consented for their data to be used in an unidentified format for publication, as per the ethics application. Availability of data and materials: The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Conflicts of interest: PH has received sessional fees and lecture fees from the Australian Medical Council, the Therapeutic Guidelines Publication, and the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry. She has also received royalties from Hogrefe and Huber, McGraw Hill Education and Blackwell Scientific Publications. Furthermore, she has received research support from CAPES, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and the Australian Research Council (ARC). She is Chair of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration in Australia (2019-present) and has been a consultant to Takeda Pharmaceuticals and is a consultant to Tryptamine Therapeutics. ES and ST are employed by the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC). NEDC receives funding from the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Aged Care. The Butterfly Foundation administers the NEDC contract on behalf of the Australian Government. LB is employed by La Trobe University. She is an executive member of the Australian Eating Disorders Research and Translation Centre and the co-lead of the Workforce Research Engagement and Capacity Stream of the Centre. She is a member of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration Steering Committee and Training Providers Reference Group and convenor of the Australian Psychological Society Psychology of Eating, Weight and Body Image. LB is also the Director of the Centre for Eating, Weight and Boyd Image. GP is employed by Deakin University. She receives sitting fees from the Occupational Therapy council of Australia and is one of their directors and co-chair of the program accreditation committee. She is an executive member of the Australian Eating Disorders Research and Translation Centre and the co-lead of the Lived Experience and Co-Production Stream of the Centre. GP is also a member of NEDC Training Providers Reference Group. She is a Director and Chair of the Research Committee of Eating Disorders Families Australia. AM is employed by the Australian Psychological Society and works specifically in mental health and wellbeing policy. CBa serves (honorary) on curriculum advisory boards for Macquarie University and University of Technology, Sydney. He delivers paid training for InsideOut Institute and the Australian and New Zealand Eating Disorders Academy. MG is President-Elect of the Australia & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders which administers the Eating Disorder Credential. DH is the Dietitian representative on the Australian New Zealand Credentialling Council and the Dietitians Australia Dietitian and Nutritionist Regulatory Council RS is employed through the University of Sydney. CBe is an Advanced Accredited Dietitian and is employed by Monash University. She is also the co-director of Eat Love Live Education. Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of members of the NEDC Eating Disorders in Tertiary Curricula Advisory Group to the design and development of the project that informed the basis of this research. Advisory group members included Emma Spiel, Genevieve Pepin, Leah Brennan, Alexandra Murray, Jenny Conway, Philippa Hay, Claire Burton, Kim Ryan, Fiona Sutherland, Deanne Harris, Chris Basten, Mandy Goldstein, Janet Fountaine and Rachel Simeone. 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Behav Res Ther. 2011;49(4):219-26. Wade T, Calvert S, Thompson E, Wild Ca, Mitchison D, Hay P. A co‐designed consumer checklist to support people with eating disorders to locate evidence‐based treatment. Int J Eat Disord. 2021;54(8):1400-4. Ali K, Radunz M, McLean SA, O'Shea A, Mavrangelos T, Fassnacht DB, et al. The Unmet Treatment Need for Eating Disorders: What Has Changed in More Than 10 Years? An Updated Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis. Int J Eat Disord. 2024. Hamilton A, Mitchison D, Basten C, Byrne S, Goldstein M, Hay P, et al. Understanding treatment delay: perceived barriers preventing treatment-seeking for eating disorders. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2022;56(3):248-59. Austin A, Flynn M, Richards K, Hodsoll J, Duarte TA, Robinson P, et al. Duration of untreated eating disorder and relationship to outcomes: A systematic review of the literature. Euro Eat Disord Rev. 2021;29(3):329-45. Waller G, Micali N, James A. General Practitioners are poor at identifying the eating disorders. Adv Eat Disord. 2014;2(2):146-57. Bullivant B, Rhydderch S, Griffiths S, Mitchison D, Mond JM. Eating disorders “mental health literacy”: a scoping review. J Ment Health. 2020;29(3):336-49. Cain B, Buck K, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz M, Krug I. Australian healthcare professionals’ knowledge of and attitudes toward binge eating disorder. Front Psychol. 2017;8:1291. Johns G, Taylor B, John A, Tan J. Current eating disorder healthcare services–the perspectives and experiences of individuals with eating disorders, their families and health professionals: systematic review and thematic synthesis. BJPsych Open. 2019;5(4):e59. Phelan SM, Burgess DJ, Yeazel MW, Hellerstedt WL, Griffin JM, van Ryn M. Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obesity Rev. 2015;16(4):319-26. Reas DL. Public and healthcare professionals’ knowledge and attitudes toward binge eating disorder: a narrative review. Nutrients. 2017;9(11):1267. Gunsalus KT, Mixon JK, House EM. Medical Nutrition Education for Health, Not Harm: BMI, Weight Stigma, Eating Disorders, and Social Determinants of Health. Med Sci Educ. 2024;34(3):679-90. Seah XY, Tham XC, Kamaruzaman NR, Yobas PK. Knowledge, attitudes and challenges of healthcare professionals managing people with eating disorders: a literature review. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2017;31(1):125-36. Heruc G, Hart S, Stiles G, Fleming K, Casey A, Sutherland F, et al. ANZAED practice and training standards for dietitians providing eating disorder treatment. J Eat Disord. 2020;8:1-9. Heruc G, Hurst K, Casey A, Fleming K, Freeman J, Fursland A, et al. ANZAED eating disorder treatment principles and general clinical practice and training standards. J Eat Disord. 2020;8:1-9. Maloney D, Ong SH, Miskovic‐Wheatley J, Dann KM, Sidari M, Hambleton A, et al. The Essentials: Upskilling a National Health Workforce in the Identification and Treatment of Eating Disorders. Int J Eat Disord. 2024. National Eating Disorders Collaboration. National framework for eating disorders training -A guide for training providers2023. Available from: https://nedc.com.au/assets/Credentialing/A-National-Framework-for-Eating-Disorders-Training-A-guide-for-training-providers-2023.pdf?2024121007. National Eating Disorders Collaboration. National eating disorders strategy2023. Available from: https://nedc.com.au/national-strategy. Hurst K, Heruc G, Thornton C, Freeman J, Fursland A, Knight R, et al. ANZAED practice and training standards for mental health professionals providing eating disorder treatment. Journal of Eating Disorders. 2020;8:1-10. National Eating Disorders Collaboration. Workforce Core Competencies: A competency framework for eating disorders in Australia 2018 [Available from: https://nedc.com.au/eating-disorder-resources/find-resources/show/workforce-core-competencies-a-competency-framework-for-eating-disorders-in-australia. National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC). Eating disorder safe principles: Whole-of-community approaches to do no harm in relation to eating disorders, disordered eating and body image distress. 2024. Gall A, Smith H, Gall Z. First Nations perspectives: Strengthening the eating disorder safe principles. 2024. Avaliable from: Eating Disorder Safe Principles Drisko J, Maschi T. Content analysis: Oxford University Press; 2015. Allen KL, Mountford VA, Elwyn R, Flynn M, Fursland A, Obeid N, et al. A framework for conceptualising early intervention for eating disorders. Euro Eat Disord Rev. 2023;31(2):320-34. Linardon J, Brennan L, De la Piedad Garcia X. Rapid response to eating disorder treatment: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Int J Eat Disord. 2016;49(10):905-19. Strachan R, Liyanage L. Active Student Engagement: The Heart of Effective Learning. In: Layne PC, Lake P, editors. Global Innovation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Transgressing Boundaries. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015. p. 255-74. Brand G, Miller K, Wise S, Saunders R, Dugmore H, Etherton-Beer C. Depth of Field: Using photographs and narratives to explore and reflect on ageing. Reflect Pract. 2016;17(6):676-80. Brand G, River J, Molloy R, Kemp H, Bellingham B. Whose knowledge is of value? Co-designing healthcare education research with people with lived experience. Nurse Educ Today. 2023;120:105616. Bonnamy J, Calvert S, Bennett C, Dart J, Molloy R, Brand G. Students' perspectives from co-designed, lived experience eating disorders education: A qualitative inquiry. Nurse Education Today. 2025;144:106412. Australia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders. Becoming credentialed [cited 2024 Dec 13]. Available from: https://connected.anzaed.org.au/Becoming-Credentialed. Ma C, Gonzales-Pacheco D, Cerami J, Coakley KE. Emergency medicine physicians’ knowledge and perceptions of training, education, and resources in eating disorders. J Eat Disord. 2021;9:1-7. Tables Table 1: Participant characteristics (n =205) Characteristic Number (Percentage) n(%) Percentage (%) Discipline Dietetics 28 (13.7) 13.7 General Practice 7 (3.4) 3.4 Medicine 13 (6.3) 6.3 Nutrition 7 (3.4) 3.4 Nursing and midwifery 51 (24.9) 24.9 Occupational therapy 17 (8.3) 8.3 Psychology 57 (27.8) 27.8 Psychiatry 7 (3.4) 3.4 Social work 11 (5.4) 5.4 Other 7 (3.4) 3.4 Level of training* Certificate/Diploma 5 Grad cert 14 Grad dip 20 Bachelor 120 Honors 45 Masters 97 Masters (qualifying) 8 Masters/PhD 20 Doctorate 31 Fellowship 5 Role* Head of school or Course convener/coordinator 109 Clinical educator 14 Lecturer 123 Tutor 14 Sessional/guest lecturer 7 Other 28 Total 295 Number of students ≤50 47 22.9 51-100 35 17.1 101-200 23 11.2 201-500 48 23.4 500+ 46 22.4 Unsure 6 2.9 Total 205 100 Program location* National 15 Australian Capital Territory/ Northern Territory 7 New South Wales 49 Queensland 52 South Australia 13 Tasmania 6 Western Australia 26 Victoria 55 Total 223 Note. *indicates multiple options possible. Small cell sizes (<5) were collapsed to protect confidentiality. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterialsSurveyLanguageKey.docx SupplementaryMaterialsSurveyItems.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Eating Disorders → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 28 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 27 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 21 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 18 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 14 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 May, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 09 May, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 05 May, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 05 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 25 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6528338","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":454508828,"identity":"4bca70e2-d66c-4943-b89f-3d949bd0ca71","order_by":0,"name":"Emma 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11:08:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6528338/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6528338/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01380-1","type":"published","date":"2025-08-26T15:57:23+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":82796446,"identity":"dc7507c2-a9fa-4d1f-8aeb-e6c361b21199","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-15 10:39:04","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":48205,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eWhere eating disorder content was included in teaching or curriculum as a percentage of participants as reported by Australian healthcare educators\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6528338/v1/92e7c32998edae6f62f6722e.png"},{"id":82797871,"identity":"8b49f8e2-5494-435d-a612-8e7972009a47","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-15 10:47:04","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":29694,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eNumber of eating disorder (ED) placement or clinical opportunities as reported by Australian healthcare educators\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6528338/v1/16ebb018d6bb9bc1aa31b99a.png"},{"id":82794750,"identity":"eca4a660-287e-4170-b103-50b7deb06e62","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-15 10:31:04","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":76475,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEducators' perceived importance or relevance of eating disorder (ED) education components\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6528338/v1/ca3d65445bbbea3ebb393bb9.png"},{"id":90345061,"identity":"e9ebb01d-3933-4a20-a198-870ec8212870","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-01 16:09:51","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1001429,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6528338/v1/e8d771cc-f5a6-4659-a25b-a56e8c0c5f42.pdf"},{"id":82794746,"identity":"f9e513f3-2740-4c5a-a3be-41766ce8203a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-15 10:31:04","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":25105,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMaterialsSurveyLanguageKey.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6528338/v1/0f56408d49bd5a600629bf5b.docx"},{"id":82794748,"identity":"46330ffd-848a-490a-8553-7de81bb9fd80","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-15 10:31:04","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":56172,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryMaterialsSurveyItems.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6528338/v1/3cc5b7102d5822aac72703f5.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eEnhancing Eating Disorder Content in the Tertiary Curricula of Health Disciplines in Australia\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"Plain Language Summary","content":"\u003cp\u003eOf the 205 health professional educators that responded to the survey, most but not all provide an opportunity for students to learn about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image. Eating disorders are seen as an important clinical teaching area, particularly because of the severity, impact and increasing prevalence. However, barriers to including eating disorder content included competing with an already full curriculum and difficulty providing practical learning. Despite these barriers, educators described the need for contemporary, best practice teaching materials and a variety of learning opportunities aligned with discipline specific frameworks and scope would help support educators to provide appropriate, evidenced-based eating disorder content to students.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eEating disorders are complex and serious conditions with the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric conditions (1, 2). They confer substantial individual and systemic impacts, including a range of physical health risks from mild to life-threatening (3, 4), impact upon families, and confer significant economic burden in Australia. Specifically, eating disorders are estimated to cost billions of dollars annually, due to healthcare costs, lost productivity, and social impacts (5, 6). In Australia, eating disorder prevalence is estimated to be between 4-16% (7), comparable to that of more commonly understood and identified conditions such as diabetes (8, 9). Globally, eating disorder prevalence (10) and severity (7) has been increasingly significantly, affecting people of all ages, backgrounds, body sizes, neurotypes, and genders (7, 11). \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarly identification and intervention have been shown to reduce the severity and impact of eating disorders (12, 13). Around 70% of individuals impacted by eating disorders and associated issues report not being linked with appropriate health professionals for treatment, suggesting no changes in the level of unmet need for treatment since 1989 (14, 15). There is also significant delay in accessing treatment, with the average duration of untreated eating disorder found to be approximately 2.5 - 5.6 years depending on the eating disorder diagnosis (15, 16). Furthermore, only around 20% of people who receive treatment will receive eating disorder specific treatment (9, 14). Early identification and support to access treatment are identified as key to addressing unmet need and supporting people to access care as early in their eating disorder as possible ((13).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite the worldwide increase in prevalence and severity of eating disorders, and the recognised importance of early identification, health professionals consistently report being underprepared to be able to effectively identify potential eating disorders (17), support people to access treatment and care (18), and provide an evidence-based response within the scope of their role (19, 20).\u0026nbsp;People with lived experience of an eating disorder and their loved ones report that interactions with health professionals who do not have these skills can cause substantial iatrogenic harm including\u0026nbsp;negative experiences that worsen their health or hinder their opportunity for recovery. This includes failure to detect eating disorder symptoms and support timely diagnosis (20), perpetuating stigma (21, 22) and/or inadvertently reinforcing disordered attitudes or behaviours (23). This lack of understanding about how to identify warning signs and support people to access the care they need means that diagnosis\u0026nbsp;of an eating disorder may not occur until physical symptoms become severe and thus require longer and more intensive treatment (20), with potential for wide ranging, negative impacts on quality of life, and treatment outcome.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, many health professionals do not receive this training. A 2016 literature reviewed the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professional who care for patients with eating disorders\u0026nbsp;(24). This review reported that health professionals\u0026nbsp;are frequently undertrained, inadequately resourced, and affected by negative attitudes, all of which are barriers to effective care (24). In Australia, current evidence suggests that there are not sufficient numbers of health professionals seeking post-qualification professional development in eating disorders to meet the needs of people experiencing eating disorders (25-28). \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite the likely benefit of a health and mental health workforce able to identify and refer people experiencing an eating disorder to appropriate care, the coverage of eating disorder education within the tertiary education programs of key health and mental health profession groups within Australia, and potential mechanisms for enhancing this training, are currently unknown. \u0026nbsp;The aim of this study was therefore to review the current state of eating disorder teaching within tertiary training programs for key medical and allied health professional groups (General Practitioners, Psychiatrists, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Dietitians, and Social Workers); it further aimed to identify potential opportunities for enhancing the quality, breadth, or reach of tertiary, eating disorder-focused teaching.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Method","content":"\u003ch2\u003eProcedure\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRetrospective ethics approval for this research was granted by Monash Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC Approval Number\u0026nbsp;45105).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eParticipants\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUniversity educators and leaders (n=2,471), identified through publicly accessible website contact data, were invited to participate in an online survey regarding the current content of tertiary education programs. The participants who were invited represented n=45 tertiary intuitions (n= 38 universities and n=7 non-university training institutions). Snowball sampling was also used where study participants were encouraged to forward the survey to others who they believed met criteria for participation. The current study reports on data from tertiary leaders and educators who consented for their survey responses to be used for research.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eMeasures\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eDemographic characteristics\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants provided information on several institutional, program and professional characteristics. These included tertiary institution, the national, state or territory location of the institution, discipline (Dietetics, Nursing, General Practice Medicine, Medicine, Midwifery, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Psychiatry, \u0026nbsp;Psychology, Social Work, Other (please specify)), Role (Head of School, Course Convener/Coordinator, Clinical Educator, Lecturer, Sessional/Guest Lecturer, Tutor and Prefer not to say), Degree type/level of the taught course (Bachelor, Certificate, Combined Masters/PhD, Diploma, Doctorate, Fellowship, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Honors, Masters, Masters (qualifying), others (please describe) and Unsure) and the number of students enrolled in the program they taught into (1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-100, 101-200, 201-500, 500+, Unsure, Prefer not to say).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eCurrent State: Eating Disorders Teaching\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA self-report measure was developed specifically for this study, to assess which areas of eating disorder teaching were covered across programs based on competencies for the safe and effective identification of, and response to, eating disorders articulated in the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC) Stepped System of Care for Eating Disorders (29), the National Framework for Eating Disorders Training \u0026ndash; A guide for training providers (28), the \u0026nbsp;Australia \u0026amp; New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) clinical practice and training standards (25, 26, 30), and the NEDC Workforce Core Competencies (31). Seven categorical (yes/no/unsure) items assessed whether the respondents program taught across seven key areas: eating disorder prevention, safe care, identification, initial response, treatment, and psychosocial and recovery support.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ePerceived Importance and Relevance of Eating Disorders Teaching\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe perceived importance of teaching students about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within the curriculum was measured using a 5-point scale (1 = \u003cem\u003eNot at\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eall important\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eto 5 = \u003cem\u003eVery important)\u003c/em\u003e. This 5-point scale was also used to assess perceived importance of teaching students about eating disorder safe care. For the purpose of this study, eating disorder safe care was defined as: Content that teaches information and knowledge about (1) Providing care for people experiencing eating disorders, disordered eating or body image concerns in a way which does not exacerbate these existing concerns; and/or (2) Providing routine healthcare in any setting in a way which does not contribute to eating disorder risk (e.g. by avoiding health care practices that over-focus on weight, contribute to body-based stigma or uphold unrealistic ideals about bodies, food and eating behaviour) and promotes protective factors (e.g. promoting weight-inclusive, body esteem building practices). Since\u0026nbsp;data for this study were collected, eating disorder safe principles have been developed which further define this approach (32, 33). Please refer to the supplementary material for language key regarding eating disorder safe principles.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe perceived relevance of teaching students about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within the curriculum was measured using a 5-point scale (1 = \u003cem\u003eNot at all relevant to\u003c/em\u003e 5 = \u003cem\u003eVery relevant).\u003c/em\u003e This 5-point scale was also used to assess perceived relevance of teaching students about eating disorder safe care.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnalysis\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStatistical analyses were completed with SPSS version 29.0.2.0. Categorical variables were reported in terms of frequencies and percentages. Variables with a cell count of \u0026lt;5 were collapsed to maintain anonymity of respondents. \u0026nbsp;Variables which used a 5-point scale were reported as the frequency and percentages of the five points. Variables where multiple responses could be chosen such as program location, level of training, role, the methods in which eating disorder content is covered in the curriculum were reported as frequencies and therefore percentages may add up to \u0026gt;100%.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe open text responses provided by the participants were analyzed using qualitative content analysis by one of the authors with expertise in qualitative research. This author is a mental health occupational therapist, professor, and researcher with a longstanding focus on eating disorders, bringing a multifaceted perspective to data analysis. Their clinical experience shaped their understanding of the complexities of eating disorder recovery, while their academic role informs their awareness of how tertiary education environments can both support and hinder mental health. They acknowledge that their professional identity and advocacy for recovery-oriented, person-centred care can influence how they interpret participant narratives. By engaging in ongoing reflexivity and explicitly considering their positionality and reporting results of data analysis to other co-authors, they aim to ensure their interpretations are ethically grounded and critically informed, enhancing the credibility and relevance of this research. Qualitative content analysis focuses on what is explicitly mentioned by participants in the data and is recommended for use with larger data sets like in this study (34). In qualitative content analysis, data is reviewed, coded, categorized and summarized, before being grouped into themes that directly related to the research purpose and questions (34). Therefore, findings from the qualitative content analysis performed on open text questions describe the perspective of the participants with regards to the importance of teaching eating disorder specific content and eating disorder safe care as well as the perceived barriers and enablers to embedding eating disorder content in curricula.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cp\u003eA total of n=205 participants (8.5% of invited sample), representing n=42 Australian tertiary academic institutions were represented. For educator characteristics please see Table 1. All states and territories were represented with most respondents identifying as course coordinators or lecturers of bachelor and master level degrees. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026lt;INSERT TABLE 1 HERE\u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCurrent State: Eating Disorders Teaching\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the 205 participants, n = 156 (76.1%) responded that students had the opportunity to learn about eating disorders within the current curriculum (13.2% no, 10.7 % unsure), and n = 102 (49.8%) responded that students had the opportunity to learn about eating disorder safe care within the current curriculum (26.8% no, 23.4% unsure). \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the respondents whose programs did teach eating disorder related content (n=156, 76.1%), n=83 (40.5%) reported that eating disorder safe care was taught, n=64 (31.2%) Prevention, n=111 (54.1%) Identification, n=81 (39.5%) Response, n=95 (46.3%) Treatment and n=78 (38.0%) Psychosocial support.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf programs that included eating disorder and associated content, teaching was typically delivered as part of a larger module (n=102, 49.8%) and embedded within core curriculum (n=70, 34.1%) and were most commonly presented in the form of lectures (n=100, 48.8%) or case studies (n=82, 40.0%). Only 7.8% (n=16) reported utilizing lived experience within their teaching.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026lt;INSERT FIGURE 1 HERE\u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the respondents that provided eating disorder content, 49.5% provided \u0026lt;5 hours of content, 18.3% provided 5-10 hours and 20.5% of respondents were unsure how much content was provided. As shown in Figure 2, in terms of practical experience, there was a broad range of opportunities with 66 courses (32%) providing no eating disorder placement opportunities, 47 offering one or two (22.9%) and one course offering more than 15 hours of eating disorder placement(s) (0.5%).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026lt;INSERT FIGURE 2 HERE\u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePerceived Importance and Relevance of Eating Disorders Teaching\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs shown in Figure 3, most respondents reported that teaching about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within their program was either important (n=49, 23.9%) or very important (n=127, 62.0%). Most respondents rated identification (86%), and safe care (81%) as most highly relevant (either 4 or 5 on the 5 point-scale), followed by initial response (76%), psychosocial recovery (74%), treatment (72%) and prevention (66%).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026lt;INSERT FIGURE 3 HERE\u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants were invited to further describe their view on the importance of teaching students about eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image concerns within the curriculum. Content analysis revealed that answers to this question were varied and discipline specific. However, there seemed to be a common agreement amongst participants that because eating disorders are severe and serious mental illnesses that affect a significant and increasing proportion of the population, as do body image concerns and disordered eating, it is essential for students to learn about eating disorders. Participants noted that what should be taught and where in the curriculum, as well as who is best placed to deliver that content, are mostly unresolved issues. However, participants identified experience and expertise in the field of eating disorders as a requirement to deliver eating disorder-related content. That knowledge would ensure accurate, evidence-based information is presented, fostering students\u0026rsquo; understanding of the complexity of eating disorders.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants provided a range of responses when asked to indicate how important it is to teach students about providing eating disorder safe care. Responses from participants varied from indicating that eating disorder and eating disorder safe care was not \u0026lsquo;core business\u0026rsquo; (e.g., psychiatrists, industrial psychologists) through to it being extremely important. Participants who noted that teaching students about eating disorder safe care was important but not central felt that basic communication skills such as using person-first language, respectful behaviours, and recovery focused approaches would be sufficient. Those who answered that teaching eating disorder safe care was \u003cem\u003every\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eextremely important\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003efelt that this would ensure that students and future clinicians would not contribute to exacerbating eating disorder symptomatology.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePerceived challenges and potential facilitators for embedding eating disorders within Tertiary Education\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs shown in Figure 3, most respondents (79%) rated the level of difficulty of including eating disorder content within the curriculum of the program in which they taught midway between very easy (5) and very difficult (1). \u0026nbsp;The content analysis revealed five themes that considered in combination help identified barriers and enablers to including eating disorders specific content in tertiary curricula.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Curriculum Conundrum\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants commonly described existing curricula as a key barrier to including eating disorder content. Participants commented that curricula are already full, expressing that integrating new material meant that existing content has ot be removed. This tension was further compounded by the positioning of eating disorders as a \u0026lsquo;specialized\u0026rsquo; topic, which was frequently seen as less of a priority compared to core competencies emphasized in health education programs across disciplines. In addition to curricular constraints, participants highlighted the limited availability of practical learning opportunities as a significant challenge. Many noted the difficulty in securing clinical placements that offered meaningful engagement with individuals experiencing eating disorders, underscoring a broader gap between theoretical learning and experiential education in this area.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe \u0026lsquo;Right\u0026rsquo; Knowledge: Who Really Knows What?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants agreed on the lack of eating disorder-specific expertise within tertiary settings. Many participants spoke of the limited availability of academic staff or clinicians with the necessary knowledge and experience to deliver eating disorder-related content confidently and sensitively. This absence was seen as particularly concerning given the emotionally charged and potentially triggering nature of the subject matter, especially for students who may have personal experience of disordered eating or eating disorders. Several participants emphasized that the presence of qualified and well-supported educators was crucial to ensuring safe and effective learning environments. Additionally, some participants reflected on the challenges of involving individuals with lived experience in curriculum delivery, noting both the value of their insights and the practical difficulties in engaging them meaningfully and ethically in educational contexts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition, discipline-specific issues were identified. Several participants reflected on the absence of visible role models within their own professional disciplines who were actively engaged in the field of eating disorders. This lack of disciplinary representation contributed to a sense of disconnection from the field and was perceived as a barrier to both personal engagement and the integration of eating disorder content within their teaching. For some, the marginal presence of their discipline in eating disorder research and practice created uncertainty about how best to position such content within existing curricula, further complicating efforts to embed it meaningfully.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe \u0026rsquo;So What\u0026rsquo; Factor\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants also discussed what they assumed was a lack of interest in their students, questioning the professional relevance of eating disorder-specific content. Some participants observed that student engagement with the topic was minimal, leading them to question the value of incorporating such content into already saturated curricula. Others expressed concerns that eating disorders represented a very small proportion of the client groups they would interact with, were not seen as directly relevant to their discipline, or that the available knowledge in the area was outdated, lacked a strong evidence base, or did not align with the theoretical or practical frameworks of their profession. In some cases, participants noted that the delivery of eating disorder content was expected to come from particular disciplines such as psychiatry or psychology, yet this was often hindered by a lack of trained, knowledgeable, or available staff. These issues collectively highlighted a broader tension between perceived curricular priorities and the integration of specialised, cross-disciplinary mental health topics like eating disorders.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lsquo;Plug-and-Play\u0026rsquo;: The Appeal of Ready-to-Use Eating Disorder Content\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants discussed the practicality and convenience that would be associated with having access to free, pre-prepared online resources, while using engaging language that reflects their function as immediate, accessible solutions. This seemed to be a practical response to the challenges posed by an already overcrowded curriculum. However, ambiguity remained around how such content would be integrated\u0026mdash;whether it would be formally embedded within existing coursework or offered as supplementary, self-directed learning. Notably, participants did not elaborate on who would be responsible for delivering or overseeing this content. Access to clear guidelines also emerged as a perceived facilitator. While often discussed in connection to pre-prepared materials, some participants raised the need for such guidelines independently. Furthermore, the availability of clinical placements\u0026mdash;either in eating disorder-specific services or settings where students could engage directly with individuals experiencing eating disorders\u0026mdash;was viewed as a critical opportunity for experiential learning.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Stamp of Approval\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOfficial endorsements of eating disorder-related content by professional bodies, such as those linked to the Eating Disorder Credential (offered by the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders (ANZAED) and supported by the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC), were seen as lending credibility and weight to the inclusion of this content within tertiary curricula. Participants also highlighted the potential influence of broader institutional recognition, for example, by accrediting bodies such as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) or the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), in legitimizing the importance of eating disorder education across disciplines. Participants also emphasized the value of collaboration with qualified and credentialed academic staff, clinicians, and people with lived experience in both the design and delivery of curriculum content. In particular, opportunities for students to hear personal recovery narratives and engage with eating disorders specific organisations were seen as powerful and impactful educational tools.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe aim of this study was to review the current state of eating disorder teaching within tertiary training programs for key eating disorder related medical and allied health professional groups in Australia, and to identify potential opportunities for enhancing the quality, breadth, or reach of eating disorder-focused teaching. According to our study, most, but not all programs provide an opportunity for students to learn about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image, and around half provide the opportunity to learn about eating disorder safe care. Eating disorders are seen as important areas for teaching, particularly because of their severity, impact and increasing prevalence. However, barriers to including eating disorder content included competing with an already full curriculum and difficulty providing practical learning. Despite these barriers, participants identified that access to contemporary, best practice teaching materials and a variety of learning opportunities aligned with discipline specific frameworks and scope would help support educators to provide appropriate, evidenced-based eating disorder content to students.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs outlined in the National Eating Disorders Strategy 2023-2033 (29), actions are required across the full stepped system of care (prevention, early identification, response, treatment and psychosocial support) to better respond to people experiencing eating disorders. \u0026nbsp;In this review of Australian health professional curriculum, most of the courses that provided learning opportunities in eating disorders, disordered eating and body image focused on identification and treatment, with fewer teaching eating disorder safe care, prevention, response and psychosocial support. Given the acknowledged positive impacts of early identification on treatment outcomes (16, 35), it is promising that students in these programs are most likely to learn, and graduate, with skills in identification, especially as students from these disciplines go on to work in diverse fields and specialties. However, there is more to be done in order to realize early identification. A major contributing factor to the prolonged time between symptom onset and treatment is clinician lack of confidence which also leads to missed opportunities for intervention (35), which is substantial as early intervention and early symptom change through evidence-based intervention are some of the strongest predictors of positive outcome (16, 36). This highlights the need for pre-registration training to build capacity in the future workforce and reduce the time between diagnosis and treatment. A noteworthy gap in current programs is the opportunity to teach students skills to engage with people safely around topics of food, body, and eating as part of routine interactions/care without causing harm (I.e., eating disorder safe principles (32, 33). \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePromisingly, respondents indicated that eating disorders were taught using a variety of traditional teaching modes. However, lecture format was most common, with limited practical learning opportunities and lived experience input. This is a concern as effective and transformational learning requires active student input and opportunities for critical reflection (37). Recently, there have been novel and impactful approaches to healthcare education published in the literature (38). Active lived/living experience input into healthcare education challenges current hierarchies within healthcare. However, lived experience leadership and contribution has been reported to be a critical element in healthcare education to help students develop skills to authentically develop person-centered and inclusive practice (39). Recently, a lived experience collaboration approach utilized in nursing and dietetics has been shown to be an effective and engaging learning approach for eating disorders. Students reported that the two-hour workshop helped students reflect on trauma informed approaches in eating disorders that center the person, not the diagnosis (40). Approaches such as this show that eating disorder education in health care professions can be provided in a way that is transformative, multidisciplinary and supported by educational theory for effective learning. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost programs spend less than five hours teaching eating disorder content. Given the broad focus of this paper, this finding is difficult to interpret. Where programs are at the undergraduate level, less than five hours teaching, if it covers the most relevant content for the level and discipline, could be a judicious use of limited space in the curriculum. For example, previous literature shows that 2-hours of eating disorder content that is supported by education theory and methodology can be effective to help students to consider ways to work with people with eating disorders fostering empathy, dignity and hope (40). \u0026nbsp;However, this falls short of recently adopted Australian national minimum training standards for treating professionals, which specify between 11 and 32 hours of introductory and treatment model training (28, 41). Further, this does not seem to an isolated issue to Australia. American emergency medicine graduates have reported feeling significantly underprepared to work with people with eating disorders (42). Of the doctors sampled 93% were unaware of the appropriate practice guidelines and 85% reported wanting more training to appropriately assess and treat patients that present to emergency departments (42).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn line with the\u0026nbsp;perceived challenges and potential facilitators\u0026nbsp;identified in this study, the development of guidance that provides clear learning pathways and materials that align with the discipline, graduate scope of practice, and professional standards could support tertiary institutions to have clarity about minimum standards for what should be taught, when and how many hours and types of learning are required to develop student competency. Furthermore, initiatives that assist in training tertiary educators and/or assist institutions to locate skilled educators could assist in addressing barriers related to eating disorder teaching skill and expertise. Initiatives that benchmark the minimum requirement of eating disorder specific knowledge required of our future health workforce could also assist.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA strength of this study was the inclusion of a large and diverse sample of Australian tertiary education programs, spanning multiple disciplines, and across states and territories. This allowed for a comprehensive overview of the current state of eating disorders teaching in key discipline groups and potential mechanisms for change in the Australian context. However, several limitations should be noted. This review was not able to detail the current state of eating disorder teaching at the discipline level (e.g., medicine vs OT) due to low cell counts, nor at program level (e.g., undergraduate, post-graduate) as respondents often taught or were responding according to involvement across multiple program types. Further research detailing profession-specific challenges and potential facilitators for embedding eating disorder content are needed. It is also important to note that this review may be an over-representation of what is being taught, given the potential for response bias in the sample, meaning those interested in eating disorders were more likely to complete the survey. However, it is the first and most comprehensive study completed mapping the current state of eating disorder education in Australia.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe results of this study show that most healthcare educator respondents consider eating disorder-safe care, prevention, identification, initial response and treatment to be important and relevant elements of their curricula. However, there is limited time in, and limited practical opportunities (e.g., practicum placements) for learning about eating disorders within already full programs of study. This research highlights the need for guidance and resource development to help support educators to advocate for and include eating disorder content in relevant curricula.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Abbreviations","content":"\u003cp\u003eANMAC - Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eANZAED \u0026ndash; Australia \u0026amp; New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBMI \u0026ndash; Body Mass Index\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eED \u0026ndash; Eating Disorder\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGP \u0026ndash; General Practitioner\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLE \u0026ndash; Lived/Living Experience of an Eating Disorder\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNEDC \u0026ndash; National Eating Disorders Collaboration\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOT \u0026ndash; Occupational therapist\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRACGP \u0026ndash; Royal Australian College of General Practitioners\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRANZCP - Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSPSS - Statistical Package for the Social Sciences\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSW \u0026ndash; Social Worker\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthics approval and consent to participate:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe Monash Human Research Ethics Committee granted ethics approval for this research (HREC Approval Number 45105).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThis work was funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Aged Care through the National Eating Disorders Collaboration core funding.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent for publication:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eAll participants have consented for their data to be used in an unidentified format for publication, as per the ethics application.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailability of data and materials:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConflicts of interest:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePH has received sessional fees and lecture fees from the Australian Medical Council, the Therapeutic Guidelines Publication, and the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry. She has also received royalties from Hogrefe and Huber, McGraw Hill Education and Blackwell Scientific Publications. Furthermore, she has received research support from CAPES, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and the Australian Research Council (ARC). She is Chair of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration in Australia (2019-present) and has been a consultant to Takeda Pharmaceuticals and is a consultant to Tryptamine Therapeutics.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eES and ST are employed by the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC). NEDC receives funding from the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Aged Care. The Butterfly Foundation administers the NEDC contract on behalf of the Australian Government.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLB is employed by La Trobe University. She is an executive member of the Australian Eating Disorders Research and Translation Centre and the co-lead of the Workforce Research Engagement and Capacity Stream of the Centre. \u0026nbsp;She is a member of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration Steering Committee and Training Providers Reference Group and convenor of the Australian Psychological Society Psychology of Eating, Weight and Body Image. LB is also the Director of the Centre for Eating, Weight and Boyd Image.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGP is employed by Deakin University. She receives sitting fees from the Occupational Therapy council of Australia and is one of their directors and co-chair of the program accreditation committee. She is an executive member of the Australian Eating Disorders Research and Translation Centre and the co-lead of the Lived Experience and Co-Production Stream of the Centre. GP is also a member of NEDC Training Providers Reference Group. She is a Director and Chair of the Research Committee of Eating Disorders Families Australia.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAM is employed by the Australian Psychological Society and works specifically in mental health and wellbeing policy.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCBa serves (honorary) on curriculum advisory boards for Macquarie University and University of Technology, Sydney. He delivers paid training for InsideOut Institute and the Australian and New Zealand Eating Disorders Academy.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMG is President-Elect of the Australia \u0026amp; New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders which administers the Eating Disorder Credential.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDH is the Dietitian representative on the Australian New Zealand Credentialling Council and\u0026nbsp;the Dietitians Australia Dietitian and Nutritionist Regulatory Council\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRS\u0026nbsp;is employed through the University of Sydney.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCBe is an Advanced Accredited Dietitian and is employed by Monash University. She is also the co-director of Eat Love Live Education.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of members of the NEDC Eating Disorders in Tertiary Curricula Advisory Group to the design and development of the project that informed the basis of this research. Advisory group members included Emma Spiel, Genevieve Pepin, Leah Brennan, Alexandra Murray, Jenny Conway, Philippa Hay, Claire Burton, Kim Ryan, Fiona Sutherland, Deanne Harris, Chris Basten, Mandy Goldstein, Janet Fountaine and Rachel Simeone.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthors contributions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach of the authors made substantive contributions to this paper including conceptualization and design of the research (ES, LD, PH, GP, AM, CB, MG, DH, RS, ST), data analyses (CB, GP, AM) interpretation (CB, GP, PH, LB, AM) and manuscript drafting (ES, CB). All authors contributed to review of the final manuscript and gave final approval for the published version of this paper. All authors have agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003evan Hoeken D, Hoek HW. 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A systematic review of the health-related quality of life and economic burdens of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Eat Weight Disord-ST. 2016;21:353-64.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eButterfly Foundation. Paying the Price, Second Edition. The economic and social impact of eating disorders in Australia. Deloitte Access Economics.; 2024.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHay P, Aouad P, Le A, Marks P, Maloney D, Touyz S, et al. Epidemiology of eating disorders: population, prevalence, disease burden and quality of life informing public policy in Australia\u0026mdash;a rapid review. J Eat Disord. 2023;11(1):23.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAustralian Insitute of Health and Welfare. Diabetes: Australian facts 2024 [cited 2024 Nov 24]. Available from: ttps://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/diabetes/diabetes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSuryasa IW, Rodr\u0026iacute;guez-G\u0026aacute;mez M, Koldoris T. Health and treatment of diabetes mellitus. Int J Health Sci. 2021;5(1):1-5.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGalmiche M, D\u0026eacute;chelotte P, Lambert G, Tavolacci MP. Prevalence of eating disorders over the 2000\u0026ndash;2018 period: a systematic literature review. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019;109(5):1402-13.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eQian J, Wu Y, Liu F, Zhu Y, Jin H, Zhang H, et al. An update on the prevalence of eating disorders in the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eat Weight Disord-ST. 2021:1-14.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eByrne SM, Fursland A, Allen KL, Watson H. The effectiveness of enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy for eating disorders: An open trial. Behav Res Ther. 2011;49(4):219-26.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWade T, Calvert S, Thompson E, Wild Ca, Mitchison D, Hay P. A co‐designed consumer checklist to support people with eating disorders to locate evidence‐based treatment. Int J Eat Disord. 2021;54(8):1400-4.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAli K, Radunz M, McLean SA, O\u0026apos;Shea A, Mavrangelos T, Fassnacht DB, et al. The Unmet Treatment Need for Eating Disorders: What Has Changed in More Than 10 Years? An Updated Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis. Int J Eat Disord. 2024.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHamilton A, Mitchison D, Basten C, Byrne S, Goldstein M, Hay P, et al. Understanding treatment delay: perceived barriers preventing treatment-seeking for eating disorders. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2022;56(3):248-59.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAustin A, Flynn M, Richards K, Hodsoll J, Duarte TA, Robinson P, et al. Duration of untreated eating disorder and relationship to outcomes: A systematic review of the literature. Euro Eat Disord Rev. 2021;29(3):329-45.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWaller G, Micali N, James A. General Practitioners are poor at identifying the eating disorders. Adv Eat Disord. 2014;2(2):146-57.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBullivant B, Rhydderch S, Griffiths S, Mitchison D, Mond JM. Eating disorders \u0026ldquo;mental health literacy\u0026rdquo;: a scoping review. J Ment Health. 2020;29(3):336-49.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCain B, Buck K, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz M, Krug I. Australian healthcare professionals\u0026rsquo; knowledge of and attitudes toward binge eating disorder. Front Psychol. 2017;8:1291.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohns G, Taylor B, John A, Tan J. Current eating disorder healthcare services\u0026ndash;the perspectives and experiences of individuals with eating disorders, their families and health professionals: systematic review and thematic synthesis. BJPsych Open. 2019;5(4):e59.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhelan SM, Burgess DJ, Yeazel MW, Hellerstedt WL, Griffin JM, van Ryn M. Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obesity Rev. 2015;16(4):319-26.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReas DL. Public and healthcare professionals\u0026rsquo; knowledge and attitudes toward binge eating disorder: a narrative review. Nutrients. 2017;9(11):1267.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGunsalus KT, Mixon JK, House EM. Medical Nutrition Education for Health, Not Harm: BMI, Weight Stigma, Eating Disorders, and Social Determinants of Health. Med Sci Educ. 2024;34(3):679-90.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSeah XY, Tham XC, Kamaruzaman NR, Yobas PK. Knowledge, attitudes and challenges of healthcare professionals managing people with eating disorders: a literature review. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2017;31(1):125-36.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHeruc G, Hart S, Stiles G, Fleming K, Casey A, Sutherland F, et al. ANZAED practice and training standards for dietitians providing eating disorder treatment. J Eat Disord. 2020;8:1-9.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHeruc G, Hurst K, Casey A, Fleming K, Freeman J, Fursland A, et al. ANZAED eating disorder treatment principles and general clinical practice and training standards. J Eat Disord. 2020;8:1-9.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMaloney D, Ong SH, Miskovic‐Wheatley J, Dann KM, Sidari M, Hambleton A, et al. The Essentials: Upskilling a National Health Workforce in the Identification and Treatment of Eating Disorders. Int J Eat Disord. 2024.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNational Eating Disorders Collaboration. National framework for eating disorders training -A guide for training providers2023. Available from: https://nedc.com.au/assets/Credentialing/A-National-Framework-for-Eating-Disorders-Training-A-guide-for-training-providers-2023.pdf?2024121007.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNational Eating Disorders Collaboration. National eating disorders strategy2023. Available from: https://nedc.com.au/national-strategy.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHurst K, Heruc G, Thornton C, Freeman J, Fursland A, Knight R, et al. ANZAED practice and training standards for mental health professionals providing eating disorder treatment. Journal of Eating Disorders. 2020;8:1-10.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNational Eating Disorders Collaboration. Workforce Core Competencies: A competency framework for eating disorders in Australia 2018 [Available from: https://nedc.com.au/eating-disorder-resources/find-resources/show/workforce-core-competencies-a-competency-framework-for-eating-disorders-in-australia.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNational Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC). Eating disorder safe principles: Whole-of-community approaches to do no harm in relation to eating disorders, disordered eating and body image distress. 2024.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGall A, Smith H, Gall Z. First Nations perspectives: Strengthening the eating disorder safe principles. 2024. Avaliable from: Eating Disorder Safe Principles\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDrisko J, Maschi T. Content analysis: Oxford University Press; 2015.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAllen KL, Mountford VA, Elwyn R, Flynn M, Fursland A, Obeid N, et al. A framework for conceptualising early intervention for eating disorders. Euro Eat Disord Rev. 2023;31(2):320-34.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLinardon J, Brennan L, De la Piedad Garcia X. Rapid response to eating disorder treatment: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Int J Eat Disord. 2016;49(10):905-19.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStrachan R, Liyanage L. Active Student Engagement: The Heart of Effective Learning. In: Layne PC, Lake P, editors. Global Innovation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Transgressing Boundaries. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015. p. 255-74.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBrand G, Miller K, Wise S, Saunders R, Dugmore H, Etherton-Beer C. Depth of Field: Using photographs and narratives to explore and reflect on ageing. Reflect Pract. 2016;17(6):676-80.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBrand G, River J, Molloy R, Kemp H, Bellingham B. Whose knowledge is of value? Co-designing healthcare education research with people with lived experience. Nurse Educ Today. 2023;120:105616.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBonnamy J, Calvert S, Bennett C, Dart J, Molloy R, Brand G. Students\u0026apos; perspectives from co-designed, lived experience eating disorders education: A qualitative inquiry. Nurse Education Today. 2025;144:106412.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAustralia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders. Becoming credentialed [cited 2024 Dec 13]. Available from: https://connected.anzaed.org.au/Becoming-Credentialed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMa C, Gonzales-Pacheco D, Cerami J, Coakley KE. Emergency medicine physicians\u0026rsquo; knowledge and perceptions of training, education, and resources in eating disorders. J Eat Disord. 2021;9:1-7.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"},{"header":"Tables","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 1:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003eParticipant characteristics\u003c/em\u003e (n =205)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"898\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCharacteristic \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNumber (Percentage) n(%)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePercentage\u0026nbsp;(%)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDiscipline\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDietetics\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e28 (13.7)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e13.7\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGeneral Practice \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7\u0026nbsp;(3.4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMedicine\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e13 (6.3)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6.3\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNutrition\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7 (3.4)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNursing and midwifery\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e51 (24.9)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e24.9\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eOccupational therapy\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e17 (8.3)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e8.3\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePsychology\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e57 (27.8)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e27.8\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePsychiatry \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7 (3.4)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSocial work \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11 (5.4)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eOther\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7 (3.4)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eLevel of training*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCertificate/Diploma\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGrad cert\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGrad dip\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e20\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eBachelor\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e120\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHonors\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e45\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMasters\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e97\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMasters (qualifying)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e8\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMasters/PhD\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e20\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDoctorate \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e31\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eFellowship\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRole*\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eHead of school or Course convener/coordinator\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e109\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eClinical educator\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eLecturer\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e123\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTutor\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSessional/guest lecturer\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eOther\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;28\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTotal\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e295\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 491px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNumber of students\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026le;50\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e47\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e22.9\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e51-100\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e35\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e17.1\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e101-200\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e23\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.2\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e201-500\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e48\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e23.4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e500+\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e46\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e22.4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eUnsure\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.9\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTotal\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e205\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e100\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"3\" valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 898px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eProgram location*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNational \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e15\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eAustralian Capital Territory/ Northern Territory\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNew South Wales \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e49 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eQueensland \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e52 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSouth Australia \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e13 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTasmania\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6 \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eWestern Australia\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e26\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eVictoria\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e55\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 406px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTotal\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 236px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e223\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 255px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"3\" valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 898px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote.\u003c/em\u003e *indicates multiple options possible. \u0026nbsp;Small cell sizes (\u0026lt;5) were collapsed to protect confidentiality.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-eating-disorders","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"joed","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Eating Disorders](http://jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com)","snPcode":"40337","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/40337/3","title":"Journal of Eating Disorders","twitterHandle":"@JEatDisord","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Tertiary, Eating Disorder, Body Image, Nutrition, Workforce, Education, Teaching, Training, Curricula, Pedagogy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6528338/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6528338/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground\u003c/strong\u003e: Eating disorders are increasing in prevalence and confer serious physical, emotional and social impacts on individuals, families, communities and systems. Tertiary education of health professionals is key to addressing these impacts. Yet, graduates of key health professions may not complete their studies with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to prevent, identify, refer and provide safe care within their role and scope of practice. This study reports on current eating disorder-focused teaching, and opportunities for improvements, within Australian tertiary training programs for key medical and allied health professional groups.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods\u003c/strong\u003e: Tertiary leaders and educators (n=205) representing 42 Australian tertiary education institutions completed an online survey including closed and open text questions exploring the relevance, importance, barriers and enablers of eating disorder-focused teaching.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults\u003c/strong\u003e: Three quarters (76.1%) of participants indicated that students had the opportunity to learn about eating disorders within the current curriculum. Identification (54.1%) and treatment (46.3%) were most likely to be taught\u003cstrong\u003e;\u003c/strong\u003e prevention (40.5%) and eating disorder safe care (31.2%) were less likely to be taught. Most respondents (85.9%) reported that teaching about eating disorders, disordered eating and body image within their program was either important (23.9%) or very important (62.0%). Perceived challenges to enhancing content included a crowded curriculum, lack of appropriately skilled educators and lack of clarity regarding basic profession-specific competencies and when these should be taught. Potential facilitators include developing materials and networks for implementing best practice training, support of accreditation/professional bodies and use of lived experience educators.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions\u003c/strong\u003e: \u0026nbsp;Most Australian healthcare educators consider eating disorders important and relevant to their curricula. However, there are limited time and practical opportunities for learning about eating disorders within current curricula. There is a\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c/strong\u003eneed for guidance and resource development to help support educators to enhance eating disorder content in relevant curricula.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Enhancing Eating Disorder Content in the Tertiary Curricula of Health Disciplines in Australia","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-15 10:31:00","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6528338/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-05-28T23:47:13+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-27T16:27:37+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-21T16:36:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-18T04:08:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"56452839976934208581181551482846669706","date":"2025-05-14T14:11:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"204668826303004244761117288198659242932","date":"2025-05-09T21:08:48+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"329463383657474641702848786195037440275","date":"2025-05-09T16:07:12+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-05-09T13:53:27+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-05-05T15:50:28+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-05-05T15:49:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Journal of Eating Disorders","date":"2025-04-25T11:04:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-eating-disorders","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"joed","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Eating Disorders](http://jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com)","snPcode":"40337","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/40337/3","title":"Journal of Eating Disorders","twitterHandle":"@JEatDisord","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"99f3b7e9-c75c-45b1-8f58-57059c037244","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 15th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-09-01T16:06:56+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-6528338","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01380-1","journal":{"identity":"journal-of-eating-disorders","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Journal of Eating Disorders"},"publishedOn":"2025-08-26 15:57:23","publishedOnDateReadable":"August 26th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-15 10:31:00","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s40337-025-01380-1","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01380-1","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6528338","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6528338","identity":"rs-6528338","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}