An eating disorder curriculum for primary care providers

Objective: Primary care providers frequently lack adequate training in trea ting eating disorders. This study examined the effectiveness of an eating d isorder curriculum designed to address the lack of knowledge among primary care providers. Method: Medical social workers completed four intensive tra ining sessions, each lasting 75 min. Participants completed questionnaires assessing eating disorder knowledge, perceived ability to treat eating diso rders, and practice behaviors, before and after training as well as at 6-mo nth follow-up. Results: The eating disorder curriculum resulted in a signif icant increase in eating disorder knowledge and a moderate improvement in p ractice behaviors such as screening new patients for an eating disorder. Tr aining did not significantly change providers' perceived ability to interve ne. Discussion: The results of this pilot study suggest that brief intensiv e training can increase providers' knowledge and change their routine clini cal practices, resulting in increased rates of detection and intervention i n the primary care setting. (C) 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.