Background: This presentation will cover the different types of online information and resources about eating disorders and some simple tips and techniques that clinicians can use to evaluate materials they provide to their patients, use for their own education, and share with other providers.
90 minute workshop
- Introduction.
- Present results of survey of clinicians and patients/family members on how they search for eating disorders information.
- Discuss issues in evaluating health information.
- Describe validated instrument (DISCERN) for assessing health information.
- Discuss issues in evaluating outcome results from treatment centers.
When looking for information about eating disorders, everyone from patients to mental health professionals generally turn to the Internet. Although online information may be plentiful, it can often be challenging to distinguish outdated, inaccurate information from current, peer-reviewed evidence. Misinformation about eating disorders can be life-threatening if it steers a patient or provider in the wrong direction. This presentation will cover the different types of online information and resources about eating disorders and some simple tips and techniques that clinicians can use to evaluate materials they provide to their patients, use for their own education and share with other providers. Strategies for identifying useful and accurate research, patient handouts, blogs, personal stories and more will be covered. Participants will also be taught to evaluate outcome data from treatment centers.
Millie Plotkin, MLS, is Eating Recovery Center and partner programs’ Informationist and creator of the Eating Disorders Information Gateway and. Since receiving her Masters of Library Science from Catholic University in Washington, DC, Millie has worked at the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health Library. She is serves on the Social Media Committee of the Academy for Eating Disorders and is on the Board of Directors for the Eating Disorders Coalition.
Craig Johnson has been a leader in the field of eating disorders for more than 30 years and is the Chief Clinical Officer at Eating Recovery Center in Denver, Colorado. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma Medical School. He has formerly held faculty appointments at Yale, University of Chicago and Northwestern University Medical Schools. He was the Founding Editor of the International Journal of Eating Disorders and a founding member of the Academy for Eating Disorders and the Eating Disorders Research Society. He is also Past President of the National Eating Disorders Association.
