Eating disorders typically emerge during adolescence and early adulthood, a time when many individuals live at home. During this period, parents, family members, and other carers play a crucial role in supporting their loved ones with eating disorders. Faced with a unique set of responsibilities and challenges, caregivers often report poor physical and emotional health, in addition to high levels of distress, burden, and unmet needs.

The current project has been developed in partnership with Eating Disorders Families Australia and recognises the crucial role of families and support systems (i.e., caregivers) in the early stages of eating disorder treatment and the need to provide them with their own support.

The project aims to develop a feasible and acceptable intervention for caregivers of young people (age 25 and younger) with an eating disorder. By drawing upon past research and exploring the experience of having and caring for a young person with an eating disorder, this will inform the development of a compassion-focused group intervention designed to meet caregivers’ needs. We believe this approach may improve both caregiver and patient outcomes by addressing caregiver wellbeing and enhancing caregivers’ ability to provide effective support.