Co-designing an adjunct yoga intervention for eating disorder recovery (YEDRi): integrating evidence from reviews, qualitative research, and community engagement

Abstract

Yoga is commonly used as an adjunct to psychological therapy to support ED recovery as it can improve body responsiveness and awareness, interoception, and embodiment, mindfulness, self-compassion, self-efficacy, body satisfaction, body appreciation and body image. Research suggests that using yoga as an adjunct intervention may augment and reinforce psychology therapy, enhancing recovery outcomes. This research aimed to describe and appraise a systematic, sequential approach to integrating scientific evidence, expert knowledge and experience, and community engagement in co-designing and developing a therapeutic yoga group intervention for young people engaged in ED treatment. A four-phase approach to developing this intervention included planning, conducting, evaluating, and reporting phases. This paper reports on the development of the initial YEDRi prototype and co-design workshop conducted with carers (n = 3), consumers (n = 3) and clinicians (n = 3) to test and iterate the intervention. The resulting program is an 8-week therapeutic group yoga program for ED recovery where consumers and their carers attend together. This is the first study to systematically engage consumers and carers with a lived experience of EDs in a co-design process to develop a therapeutic yoga program for ED recovery.