Publication:

Efficacy of educational interventions in adolescent population with feeding and eating disorders: a systematic review

Background: Educational interventions are a key element in the care of young patients with feeding and eating disorders, forming part of the majority of therapeutic approaches. The aim of this review is to evaluate the impact of educational interventions in adolescents with feeding and eating disorders. Methods: Following the PRISMA recommendations electronic databases were searched up to 29 June 2023. Studies related to educational interventions in young population diagnosed with feeding and eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, avoidant/ restrictive food intake disorder, bulimia nervosa, pica and ruminative disorders and binge- eating disorder) in Spanish and English language, without temporal limitation, were located in the databases: PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, CUIDEN, DIALNET, and ENFISPO. A search in the databases of grey literature was performed in OpenGrey and Teseo. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020167736). Results: A total of 191 articles were selected from the 9744 citations screened. Ten publications were included. The results indicated variability between educational programs, including individual and group interventions, learning techniques and various research methodologies. Variables such as learning, attitudinal and perceptual changes, anthropometric parameters, symptom improvement, normalization of eating patterns, evaluation of the program and cognitive fexibility were identifed. The risk of bias was high due to the low methodological quality of a large number of studies analyzed. Conclusion: The results indicate that educational interventions can infuence the improvement of knowledge level and have a positive efect on health outcomes. Although education is a common practice in the treatment of these pathologies, highquality studies were not identifed. Thus, this review concludes that additional evidence is needed to evaluate the efectiveness of educational programs, with further research studies, especially randomized controlled trials, to confrm these results. Level of evidence: Level I: Systematic review.