Co-designing Anorexia Treatment and Support (CoAST) project

Project status: Active

Research area: Clinical Sciences > Brain and Mind

CoAST is a new research project designed with people who have lived experience of eating disorders

CoAST aims to improve care for children and adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) or Atypical Anorexia Nervosa (AAN), and for their families.

About the CoAST project

The project focuses on Family-based treatment (FBT), the main recommended treatment for AN/AAN in young people. While FBT works well for many families, it does not work for everyone. When treatment is not effective, the illness can continue into adulthood.

The CoAST project aims to:

Identify reasons why FBT may not work or may end early.
Understand the experiences and needs of young people, carers, and clinicians who have used or been through FBT.
Co-design an improved version of FBT with people who have lived experience, and health professional.

Information for participants

Who can take part?

You can take part if you:

Are 14 years or older, and
Have been involved in FBT as a young person, parent/carer, or clinician in the past five years.
Are a young person or carer from Victoria or New South Wales (NSW).

Please note: All information gathered from this project will be kept confidential.

What’s involved?

Participants will be asked to complete:

One online survey (approximately 30 minutes)

Participants can also choose to take part in:

An online interview (upt to one hour), and/or
An in-person focus group (up to two hours)

About 150 people will complete the survey, and around 60 people will join interviews or focus groups.

How the study works

The study has three phases:

Phase 1: Reviewing existing research on why family-based treatment (FBT) may not work and how it has been adapted.
Phase 2: Collecting experiences through surveys, interviews, and focus groups.
Phase 3: Co-designing a new FBT adaptation, called CoAST, through a series of workshop.