Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on eating disorders and service use [COVID-19]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on eating disorder symptomatology and service utilisation
IRAS ID
284157
Contact name
Paul Fletcher
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated urgent and unprecedented changes to daily living across the United Kingdom, including a government lockdown beginning 24th March 2020. There has been a growing need to understand the effects of the pandemic and government lockdown measures on mental health. Individuals who suffer with eating disorders may be particularly vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes in response to the pandemic due to serious pre-existing illness and disruptions to normal routines, including access to NHS mental health services. This online study aims to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic relates to mental health symptoms and use of NHS services amongst individuals who have diagnosed eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and otherwise specified feeding or eating disorder) and those without lifetime mental illness. We will also investigate how differences in how people learn or make decisions may explain differences in mental health symptoms during the pandemic. Potential volunteers will be invited to complete an online screening form, and those who are eligible for the study will then complete a series of questionnaires and computer tasks. Then, participants will be asked to complete a brief daily survey each evening for 14 days to track their mood and eating behaviour in daily life. The results of this study will advance understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected individuals with eating disorders, which will aid in the development of treatments for these disorders.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EM/0153
Date of REC Opinion
12 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion