Grant: Team Grant: Transitions in Care

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious mental illnesses associated with significant mortality and medical complications. Their peak onset is in adolescence and early adulthood; this is also the time of transition from pediatric to adult services and contributes to disrupted or discontinued medical and psychological treatment at a critical time. No current guidelines exist regarding the transition between pediatric ED programs (EDPs) and the continuum of adult services. In response to this critical gap, we have formed a national interdisciplinary team of researchers, providers, decision makers, people with lived experience and their families. In a multi-phase project, our team will co-design and implement practice guidelines for transitions in care from pediatric to adult services for Youth and Young Adults (YYA) with EDs. In Phase 1, we will conduct a scoping review of the literature to synthesize available evidence on transition interventions, outcomes, and measurement tools, collaborating with key stakeholder groups to build consensus on priority interventions and outcomes using a modified Delphi method to facilitate guideline development. In Phase 2, we will prepare key stakeholders to co-identify, co-develop, and co-design the implementation of the recommended transition guidelines, and identify factors which could help or hinder implementation of a prototype intervention for transitions among YYA with EDs. In Phase 3, implementation teams at two EDPs in Calgary and Hamilton will administer and evaluate the co-designed prototype intervention, using qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the implementation approach, selected measures, and priority outcomes. With this proposal, we are addressing all priority areas of this grant including: 1) Across the lifecycle; 2) Changing health status/care; and 3) Key populations.