RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Studies show that primary care clinicians struggle with the assessment and treatment of eating disorders in adults. There are no known studies examining current practices of clinicians with respect to eating disorders in children and adolescents. The following study describes the key practices of primary care clinicians in Ontario, Canada, around the screening, assessment, and treatment of eating disorders in children and adolescents. METHOD: A 24-item survey was developed to obtain information from family physicians and psychologists about presenting complaints and current practices related to the assessment and treatment of eating disorders. RESULTS: Findings of this study suggest that despite discipline-specific differences, a large proportion of clinicians do not routinely screen for eating disorders, and when eating disorders are assessed and treatment is initiated, family members are not routinely involved in the process. CONCLUSION: In Ontario, primary care clinicians may benefit from more training and support to better identify and treat children and adolescents with eating disorders. In particular, clinicians may require additional training around screening, multi-informant assessment methods, as well as appropriate therapy techniques.
