‘Through education, we can make change’: A design thinking approach to entry‐level dietetics education regarding eating disorders

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Heafala, Alana
Ball, Lauren
Rundle‐Thiele, Sharyn
Mitchell, Lana J
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2024
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Aims To co-create strategies and identify opportunities to integrate eating disorder content within dietetics curricula at one Australian university with stakeholders using a design thinking approach.

Methods A pragmatic mixed-methods, participatory design approach was used. An online survey explored the learning needs of dietetic students and recent graduates regarding eating disorders. Following the survey, a one-day design thinking retreat was held with stakeholders who were identified from the research team's professional networks. Eating disorder dietitians, learning experts, dietetic students, graduates, and those with lived experience were asked to identify strategies to enhance students' confidence and competence to provide care for people living with eating disorders. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed using inductive coding and reflexive thematic analysis.

Results Sixty-four students (n = 55, 86%) and recent graduates (n = 9, 14%) completed the online survey (26% response). Seventeen stakeholders attended the retreat. Four themes were identified: (1) changing perceptions of eating disorder care from specialist to ‘core business’; (2) desiring and advocating for a national change to dietetics curricula; (3) importance of lived experience at the centre of curriculum design and delivery; and (4) collaborating to co-design and deliver eating disorder content at university.

Conclusion Raising awareness, upskilling students and educators, enhanced collaboration between universities and stakeholders, and the inclusion of lived experience were key to preparing students to provide care to people seeking support for eating disorders. Further research is needed to assess the impact these strategies have on dietetic students' confidence and competence.

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Nutrition & Dietetics

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© 2024 The Author(s). Nutrition & Dietetics published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Dietitians Australia.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

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This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advance online version

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Nutrition and dietetics

Public health

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Heafala, A; Ball, L; Rundle‐Thiele, S; Mitchell, LJ, ‘Through education, we can make change’: A design thinking approach to entry‐level dietetics education regarding eating disorders, Nutrition & Dietetics, 2024

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