First Episode & Rapid Early Intervention for Eating Disorders Upscaled
Research type
Research Study
Full title
FREED-UP: First Episode and Rapid Early Intervention Service for Young People with Eating Disorders – Upscaled.
IRAS ID
210751
Contact name
Ulrike Schmidt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
We have developed a novel First Episode and Rapid Early Intervention Service for ED (FREED) for young people (aged 16-25) with short (< 3 years) first episode illness duration, which overcomes barriers to effective early treatment and recovery.
A pilot study demonstrated that FREED reduces waiting time for treatment by 52-68% compared to audit data from matched patients previously seen in our service and the overall duration of untreated ED (DUED) by up to 25% compared to audit or by ~ 50% compared to previously published data. 100% of FREED patients took up treatment, compared with 87% from published data and treatment dropout was 15% compared to 20-44% from published data. Satisfaction with FREED was very high, and clinical improvement is rapid with patients on average no longer fulfilling criteria for a clinical ED at 6 months.
Aims:
To implement and disseminate FREED across different services and create evidence for the scalability of this approach, so FREED can become a national model of service delivery.Objectives:
To achieve the following specific quality improvements in participating services: (1) reduce wait-time and DUED in young people, (2) improve treatment engagement (3) improve clinical outcomes and (4) demonstrate cost-effectiveness.Setting:
Three specialist ED services in Greater London and one in Yorkshire. Funded by the Health Foundation.Approach:
To assess successful implementation of FREED, we will use a mixed methods approach. For waiting-times and DUED, we will carry out a case-control comparison of FREED participants with patients (matched for age and illness duration) treated in participating units prior to starting FREED. Additionally, we will carry out a 1-year outcome evaluation of a proportion of participants and their carers. Qualitative interviews (patients, carers, clinicians, commissioners) will also be conducted.Key measures:
Wait-time, DUED, treatment uptake, drop-out, ED outcomes at baseline, 3-, 6- and 12-months.REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1882
Date of REC Opinion
2 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion