When the caregiver is affected: eating disorder symptoms among mental health professionals

To study the lifetime and point prevalence of eating disorders (ED) among mental health care providers and compare those working with patients with ED to those who work in other fields of psychiatry to examine whether the overrepresentation of ED among professionals seen in ED clinics are also true for professionals in other psychiatric outpatient clinics.

Digital questionnaires were sent out to professionals working with patients in psychiatric outpatient clinics in Sweden. The questionnaire included questions from the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview 7.0.1 and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire 6.0. 173 respondents completed the questionnaire.

The lifetime prevalence of ED among professionals in ED-clinics was 35.2% (women 41.9%, men 10.0%) and in non-ED clinics 24.4% (women 27.7%, men 16.1%). The point prevalence was 11.1 and 10.9% respectively.

The lifetime prevalence of any ED in the Swedish general population is 2-3.5%. Our results suggest a 10-fold higher prevalence among mental health care providers, regardless of if working with patients with ED or not. This result could have multiple explanations; such as an increased willingness to help others based on personal experience of ED or increased risk of developing ED when working with patients with ED. There is always a risk of reporting bias when conducting studies using digital questionnaires. The findings can have implications for the psychosocial work environment and health of employees as well as for the assessment and treatment of patients.