10.3 PERCEIVED CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF DEVELOPING VIRTUAL INTENSIVE TREATMENT PROGRAMS FOR ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS WITH EATING DISORDERS

Abstract

Shortly following the World Health Organization’s declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic in March 2020, leadership within our academic medical center requested that we convert our in-person partial hospitalization programs for children, adolescents, and young adults with eating disorders (EDs) to a virtual format. This presentation describes our experiences with developing 2 virtual intensive treatment programs for EDs, with a focus on perceived challenges and benefits. Clinical staff provided their perspectives working within our institution’s 2 virtual intensive treatment programs for EDs, one of which treats children and adolescents (ages 10-16 years) and the other of which treats young adults (ages 17-25 years). Feedback was obtained from an interdisciplinary team of providers, including psychologists, psychiatrists, adolescent medicine physicians, therapists, and dietitians. Providers identified a number of challenges and benefits related to offering an intensive treatment program for EDs using a virtual format. Challenges included decreased supervision of patients’ eating behaviors during and after meals, complications obtaining accurate weight information, patient fatigue and reduced attention following multiple hours of virtual sessions, patient hesitancy speaking in virtual groups, fewer opportunities for in-session exposure therapy, and difficulties with technology. Benefits included greater access to services for patients with geographical limitations, easier involvement of family members in treatment, greater emphasis on between-session exposure exercises, increased generalizability to patients’ natural environment, reduced disruption of prosocial activities and responsibilities, and more seamless transitions to outpatient treatment. COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated the mental health field’s adoption of telehealth services and forced providers to modify intensive treatment programs in novel ways. Our team experience suggests that there are a number of challenges and benefits to offering virtual treatment, which has implications for the future of telehealth for children, adolescents, and young adults with EDs.