This module allows the student to have a comprehensive overview on the management of eating disorders across the age-range. It covers aspects from assessment through to diagnosis and treatment.

Risk assessment, which informs clinical decision-making process, will be discussed and in the short course MEED (Management of Emergencies in Eating Disorders) which the students are strongly advised to attend, and the contents of which complements this module.

The module will cover various therapeutic modalities (those used as early intervention, individual approaches, family-based approaches as well as those tailored for the management of severe and enduring eating disorders). Multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working as well as the role of the voluntary sector will be discussed. The various treatment settings (community, day-treatment or inpatient) will also be considered to allow the student to gain an understanding of when these will be considered in clinical practice. All this knowledge allows for a good overview of eating disorders in clinical practice and will help those considering the setting up of an eating disorder service understand the various clinical facets of eating disorders.

As part of this placement, the students on the MSc in Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition are expected to attend 3 observation days either in a child and adolescent or adult setting. Please note that these sessions are only available to MSc Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition students.

Kindly note that whilst this knowledge will add to your understanding of eating disorders management, the MSc in Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition alone will not be sufficient to qualify you as a clinician working in this field as for this a clinical degree such as medicine, dietetics, clinical psychology or nursing is needed. I also would like to point out that the introductory sessions on the different therapies would give you a good overview of the different therapies across the age-range, but once again will on their own not qualify you as a certified therapist in that therapeutic modality.