Clinician Practices in Determining Expected Body Weights Across Eating Disorders: A Mixed Methods Study

Area of Science:

• Clinical Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Eating disorder (ED) treatment frequently involves setting expected body weights (EBWs).
• Current practices for determining EBWs across different EDs and clinician perspectives are not well understood.
• This study investigates how clinicians determine EBWs in ED treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore clinician experiences and perspectives on determining expected body weights (EBWs) in eating disorder (ED) treatment.
• To examine the frequency of different EBW determination approaches across various ED diagnoses and age groups.
• To identify challenges and training needs related to EBW determination among ED clinicians.

Main Methods:

• Convergent mixed methods design integrating qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys.
• Semi-structured interviews with 24 multidisciplinary ED clinicians.
• Anonymous online survey of 161 multidisciplinary ED clinicians.

Main Results:

• Clinicians commonly use individualized approaches and involve nutrition and medical professionals in EBW determination.
• Limited access to premorbid data presents a significant challenge.
• While clinicians report determining EBWs for all patients, quantitative data show primary application for youth with anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa.

Conclusions:

• EBW determination practices in ED treatment are variable regarding methodology and patient population.
• There is a need for evidence-based guidelines to standardize EBW determination.
• Improved consistency in EBW setting could enhance eating disorder treatment outcomes.