Can an Online Training Program Help Prepare Healthcare Students to Work with Eating Disorders?

A few years ago, our team introduced PreparED, an online eating disorders educational program for healthcare students and providers not specialized in working with this patient population. Why? Because during and since the pandemic, rates of eating disorders have been on the rise and there is a longstanding gap in training.

PreparED is available online on an open-access website, and we are happy to report that with no barriers to access, it is indeed routinely used by many people. In addition to the publicly available version, those wishing to receive a certificate of completion for PreparED can view the program through the NY State Psychiatric Institute’s Center for Practice Innovation.

Following its development and introduction, the next step for us as researchers was to evaluate the impact of our work. Is PreparED as engaging as we hoped – do users like it? Does it work – do healthcare students learn something new and develop more confidence in their ability to screen, refer, or provide some of the fundamentals of care for these patients?  We aimed to find out with our first, small program evaluation study.

Here’s more about what the study involved:  

Study Methods

Sixty-seven students – 41 nutrition graduate students and 26 nurse practitioner students – viewed the six PreparED modules. The standalone modules are 15-30 minutes each, with the whole program clocking in at just under two hours of sit time for the learner.

Before using PreparED, the students answered questions about their prior educational experience and exposure to eating disorders. After using it, they provided targeted feedback on the style, length, and scope of the program. At both time points, participants completed a questionnaire measuring comfortability with and knowledge of eating disorders.

Results

Results confirmed concerns about the lack of eating disorders training. Nearly thirty percent of nutrition students had no exposure to the topic, while those who did often said it added up to less than two hours. Nurse practitioner students reported similar rates of exposure, typically spending less than two hours learning about eating disorders.

After completing the program, all students felt that PreparED had increased their knowledge and 94% reported feeling more confident and comfortable with eating disorders. Specifically, participants described that they were much more likely to screen, ask questions about eating disorder symptoms which might lead to diagnosis, and recognize medical complications that may be attributable to an eating disorder. It didn’t matter what kind of graduate student you were or how much you had learned about eating disorders previously – all learners benefited from viewing PreparED, with knowledge gains and improvements in confidence evident across the board.

Finally, everyone found the program easy to follow and the vast majority approved the module length. Keeping the modules short was key. Approximately 90% of the participants said the duration was “just right!”

What does it mean? What’s next?

• Findings underscored the need for more eating disorders training for healthcare professionals and the hope that brief touches can assist in filling this gap.
• This study confirmed that we can use technology to make education about eating disorders more accessible. Technology allowed us to keep the training short and sweet, while still providing the key information to learners.

Reassured by the findings from this study, our team is moving ahead to learn more about PreparED’s usefulness for experienced, generalist healthcare providers. We are also working hard to broaden the reach of our program, with a Spanish version soon to be available.

To read more about the study described above, check out:

Glasofer DR, Lemly DC, Lloyd C, Jablonski, M, Schaefer LM, Wonderich SA, & Attia, E. Evaluation of an online modular eating disorders training (PreparED) to prepare healthcare trainees: a survey study. BMC Medical Education. 23, 868 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04866-1

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