The Essentials: Upskilling a National Health Workforce in the Identification and Treatment of Eating Disorders

Abstract

Objective: Health practitioners report limited skills and lack of confidence in managing and treating people with eating disorders. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the national rollout of comprehensive basic training in identification, assessment, treatment, and management of people with eating disorders to clinicians.

Methods: The Essentials: Training Clinicians in Eating Disorders is a core competency eLearning program. As part of a nation-wide multidisciplinary workforce training strategy, 7500 course places were provided free of charge to public and private health care professionals across all jurisdictions of Australia between January 2020 and March 2022.

Results: A total of 7370 health professionals enrolled during the study period. All learning outcomes showed improvement with large effect (Cohen's d = 1.2-2), with the largest improvements for self-reported knowledge of requirements for working with children and adolescents. Effects did not depend on years of working with eating disorders suggesting that the training was beneficial across levels of experience. Those who started with very low knowledge of eating disorders or higher willingness to treat eating disorders were most likely to complete the course. Most participants reported that the course was relevant to their clinical practice, that they expected their clinical practices to change, and that they would recommend the course to other health professionals.

Discussion: The strategy to provide government-funded core competency training in eating disorder care to healthcare professionals met key objectives by reaching health professionals eligible to provide government-rebated services in public and private settings across all jurisdictions including regional and remote areas.

Keywords: behavioral health workforce; capacity building; eLearning; eating disorders; health workforce; knowledge translation; online learning; service development; training evaluation; upskilling.

FIGURE 1

Participation and completion by module (N = 7268).