Peter Beumont Young Investigator Award: ANZAED 2021

Congratulations to Emma Bryant who was awarded the Peter Beaumont Young Investigator award at this year’s ANZAED 2021 conference.

Emma presented on her research in the Identification of High Risk and Early Stage Eating Disorders: Development and Validation of a Digital Screening Tool.

There were 6 finalists, and a panel of judges. She was presented the award by Associate Professor Sue Byrne at the Scientific Awards Ceremony on Saturday, 21st August.

The presentation described the development and psychometric validation of the InsideOut Institute Screener, a digital screening tool designed to identify individuals who may be at risk of or currently experiencing symptoms of an eating disorder.

The screener was designed in collaboration with consumers, clinicians, and expert researchers, to capture a broad range of eating disorder symptomatology. It uses sensitive language designed to 'start a conversation' and may be used by individuals in the privacy of their own home, for referral to a GP or healthcare professional, or delivered digitally in a healthcare setting.

This was a psychometric validation study using a longitudinal repeated measures survey research design. Over 1300 participants from the community, between the ages of 14 and 74, took part. The IOI-S demonstrated excellent psychometric properties including strong construct and criterion validity and high accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) for two levels of risk (moderate and high) and likely eating disorder.

Results publication is forthcoming in the Journal of Eating Disorders, and we are about to trial the screener for face-to-face use in Headspace and primary care clinics around the country.

Research paper:

The Identification of High Risk and Early Stage Eating Disorders: Development and Validation of a Digital Screening Tool.

Findings from this study will be published in the Journal of Eating Disorders.

Bryant, E