Developing an educational resource for people experiencing eating disorders during the menopause transition: A qualitative co-design study

Summary & key facts

Researchers worked with 17 Australian women who had an eating disorder during the menopause transition to co-design an online educational resource. Over a series of recorded workshops, the team identified six main themes about needs and services and created a prototype that participants rated positively. Women said the resource improved their knowledge and made them feel more confident to seek help, but the findings are preliminary and come from a small, mostly White, cisgender-women sample in Australia.

Key facts:

• Seventeen women took part in the study. Their ages ranged from 33 to 61 years, with an average age of 50.4 years (SD = 8.7).
• The project used a Double Diamond co-design process with four phases: discover, define, develop, and deliver. Workshops were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis.
• Analysis identified six major themes: lack of awareness of the intersection of menopause and eating disorders; lack of education; limited and stigmatising services; learning from lived experience; resource impact; and resource development.
• Participants gave overall positive feedback about the online resource prototype. They reported it improved their knowledge and made them feel more confident to seek support from health professionals.
• The study describes the findings as preliminary acceptability of the resource, not proof that the resource improves health outcomes. Further research is needed to test its effectiveness.
• The sample was mostly White (88%) and all participants identified as cisgender women, so the results may not represent people of other ethnicities, genders, or locations.
• Background context reported in the paper: menopause occurs at an average age of about 48.8 years globally, and an estimated 3.5% of women in midlife experience eating disorders, with many not seeking treatment.

Abstract

Findings from this study provided preliminary acceptability of a novel online resource to address the unmet educational needs of people experiencing an eating disorder during the menopause transition. Overall positive feedback on the potential for the resource to improve knowledge and empower treatment-seeking was provided by women with lived experience.

Topics

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Menopause: Health Impacts and Treatments

Categories

Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Health Sciences Medicine

Tags

Clinical psychology Computer network Computer science Eating disorders Internal medicine Medical education Medicine Menopause Psychology Qualitative research Resource (disambiguation) Social science Sociology Thematic analysis