Qualitative exploration of eating disorder trends in youth during Covid-19

Background: While the illness burden of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mainly affected adults, emerging evidence suggests a significant burden of the indirect impacts of the pandemic and its associated public health measures on children and youth. Evidence from my CIHR-funded research has demonstrated a significant increase in hospitalizations for youth age 12-17 with eating disorders. The reasons for this increase are not yet described. Methods: Youth aged 12-17 years who presented to the emergency department or were hospitalized between March 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023 will be recruited from the BC Children's Hospital Eating Disorders Program to participate in semi-structured interviews. Following informed consent from guardians and informed assent from participants, single-session semi-structured interviews will be conducted between the research team, the child participant and their guardian, if applicable. Questions will inquire about their engagement with healthcare resources, including primary care, during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other biopsychosocial factors that may have impacted the presentation or exacerbation of their condition that brought them to the ED. Interviews will be transcribed and data will be analyzed using NVivo to identify common themes and factors, with mid-study preliminary analyses being conducted by the end of the USRA funding period. By providing a patient-centred understand of how the COVID-19 pandemic public health measures impacted the mental health of children and youth, these mixed-methods data can help inform public health policies and decision making during this ongoing pandemic and for future pandemics.