Improving the diagnosis of OSFED across clinical and research settings: the development of a diagnostic flowchart

Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorder (OSFED) has the highest prevalence of any eating disorder (ED), yet limited resources are available to help clinicians and researchers reliably differentiate between the different OSFED diagnoses. A tool capable of clarifying differences between OSFED subtypes and other EDs is needed to ensure that individuals receive accurate and specific diagnoses across clinical and research settings. To this end, the present report describes the development of a diagnostic flowchart developed for use in a research laboratory to allow research assistants without specialized training in EDs to make accurate and reliable diagnoses. We also provide guidelines for use of the flowchart alongside existing ED assessments and discuss evidence demonstrating its utility in improving interrater reliability among diagnostic raters, even those with minimal training. We envision this flowchart as an adaptable tool which will continue to be modified as the ED field works towards consensus definitions of OSFED diagnoses.