International consensus on patient-centred outcomes in eating disorders

The effectiveness of mental health care can be improved through coordinated and wide-scale outcome
measurement. The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) has
produced collaborative sets of outcome measures for various mental health conditions, but no
universal guideline yet exists for eating disorders (EDs). This position paper presents a set of
outcomes and measures for EDs as determined by 24 international experts from professional and lived
experience backgrounds. An adapted Delphi technique was used, and provisional results were
validated through an open review survey (n=207). Final recommendations suggest tracking outcomes
across four domains: ED behaviours/cognitions, physical health, co-occurring mental health
conditions and quality of life/social functioning. These outcomes are captured across three to five
patient reported measures per individual. For children, the measures include the Children’s Eating
Attitude Test (or for those with ARFID, the Eating Disorder in Youth Questionnaire), the
KIDSCREEN-10, and the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Screener-25. For adults, this
includes the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (or for ARFID, the Nine-item ARFID
Screener), the Patient Health Questionnaire-2/9, the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-2/7, the Clinical
Impairment Assessment, and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0-12.
These questionnaires should be supplemented by information on patient characteristics and
circumstances that may impact outcomes (i.e., demographic, historical, and clinical factors, including
comorbidities). Adoption of these guidelines on a wide scale will allow comparison of research and
clinical intervention so the field can better determine which settings and interventions work best and
for whom.
SAMHSA -Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration(POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028145)