To gain the ANZAED Eating Disorder Credential clinicians are required to complete both introductory training and training in one evidence-based treatment model (mental health professionals) or in evidence-informed dietetic practice (dietitians), as well as having two years of general clinical practice experience. Once credentialed, clinicians must meet the ongoing professional development requirements of six hours of eating disorder-specific supervision (of which a minimum of 50% is in a 1:1 format) and 15 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) relevant to eating disorders per year.
While essential for maintaining the quality and value of the credential, for some clinicians, the required training and supervision may be difficult to access.
What are the Credential Professional Development Packages?
To support clinicians to meet the training and supervision criteria, NEDC has been providing Professional Development Packages of free training and/or supervision. These opportunities were made available through funding from the Australian Government. The PD Packages were provided to 896 mental health professionals and dietitians between March 2022 and June 2023 Evaluation of this workforce development initiative will be available in 2023.
What did the evaluation of the program show?
You can read the full Evaluation Report here.
data outlined in this report suggest that clinicians who undertook a PD Package experienced an increase in self-reported willingness, knowledge, and skill to provide treatment for people experiencing eating disorders. Clinicians also reported a substantial increase in the number of people they were able to provide treatment for, because of their participation in the program. This is promising, indicating that the PD Package program was effective in rapidly upskilling mental health professionals and dietitians in eating disorders treatment and care to improve the quality and reach of eating disorder treatment. This low-cost model and existing program infrastructure could be used to rapidly build the skill and size of different sectors within the eating disorder workforce into the future.
The data also suggest that the program was effective in supporting clinicians to become credentialed, and that most clinicians intended to renew and retain their Credential which promotes greater visibility and accessibility to skilled treatment providers for people experiencing eating disorders, their families and supports.
Clinicians identified several barriers to their ability to implement the skill and knowledge gained from their participation in the program, feeling particularly constrained by funding and the general skill and knowledge of staff within their services. Clinicians also identified key enablers related to workplace culture, leadership, and attitudes that they felt were enablers present within their workplaces.