Eating disorders are serious and complex conditions, requiring a whole person approach to care. Currently, religious and spiritual aspects are rarely incorporated in this care. Inclusion of such aspects for those who would like this would assist in individualising and personalising care and may improve outcomes.

We are seeking to better understand how religious and spiritual aspects influence the experience of eating disorders, with a focus on Christian spirituality. We will be hearing from people with lived experience of eating disorders, their loved ones, healthcare providers and pastoral carers about their experiences. Together, we plan to build on these insights to develop a resource to guide the integration of Christian spirituality into eating disorder care, where this is desired.

Participation involves initially completing a short demographic questionnaire. Selected participants will be invited to participate in a 60-90 minute semi-structured interview regarding their views and experiences relevant to eating disorders and Christian spirituality. Following this, a smaller group will be invited to participate in co-design groups to produce a resource to assist in Christian spiritual integration in eating disorder care for those who would like this approach. All consenting participants will be invited to provide feedback on the draft resource. Interview and co-design group participants will be compensated with a gift voucher for their time.

Further information and participation

This project is led by Dr Hayley Thomas and represents a partnership between researchers at The Centre for Theology and Psychology, The University of Queensland, The University of Notre Dame, and Flinders University, and is supported by a grant from The John Templeton Foundation.

Please follow this link to participate: https://medical-school.uq.edu.au/Eating%20disorders%20spirituality%20project