Examining the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Eating Disorder Symptomatology and Service Utilisation
There has been a growing need to understand the effects of the pandemic and government lockdown measures on mental health. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated urgent and unprecedented changes to daily living across the United Kingdom, including a government lockdown beginning 24th March 2020.
Individuals who suffer with eating disorders may be particularly vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes in response to the pandemic due to serious pre-existing illness and disruptions to normal routines, including access to NHS mental health services.
This Online Study Aims to:
– Examine how the COVID-19 pandemic relates to mental health symptoms and use of NHS services amongst individuals who have diagnosed eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and otherwise specified feeding or eating disorder) and those without lifetime mental illness
– Investigate how differences in how people learn or make decisions may explain differences in mental health symptoms during the pandemic
Potential Volunteers:
– Will be invited to complete an online screening form
– Those who are eligible for the study will then complete a series of questionnaires and computer tasks
– Then, participants will be asked to complete a brief daily survey each evening for 14 days to track their mood and eating behaviour in daily life
Interested in participating in our study? Please email Margaret Westwater mw658@cam.ac.uk for more info
The results of this study will advance understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected individuals with eating disorders, which will aid in the development of treatments for these disorders
HRA Ref: 20/EM/0153
IRAS Project ID: 284157
