Design for Digital Eating Disorder Support

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Our project focuses on the challenge of providing accessible treatment for young people (aged 14 - 25) impacted by eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. An estimated 98% of people in the UK with an eating disorder have not received specialist NHS care. There is a significant lack of capacity within existing healthcare provision due to cost and labour supply issues. Even when treatment is available many young people avoid, delay or drop out of treatment due to feelings of shame or embarrassment. This project will explore the potential for a digital application to meet this challenge through a combination of online guided Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders, digital behaviour-change support and access to a peer community. Our hypothesis is that such a solution could provide a more accessible and non-stigmatizing approach as well as being lower cost and more scaleable. Treatment for eating disorders has not changed significantly for over 20 years. During the pandemic, many treatments became available via video calls but they do not generally tap into the potential of a designed-for-digital approach. Meanwhile, digital therapeutics is a fast growing field within mental health but patients with eating disorders are significantly overlooked and underserved. There is a clear opportunity for digital app combined with human connection and community. Specifically, we are not aware of an online guided CBT for eating disorders available on the market anywhere in the world despite it being the most evidence-based treatment and recommended by NICE. We will take a humanity-centred design approach that actively involves people with lived experience throughout the process and builds Beanbag's network of lived experience advisers for the future. The project will build on and supplement existing user research to produce users personas and user journeys for the key stakeholders. These will be used to develop a high level product specification. Beanbag Health is an early stage start-up founded specifically to address this challenge by two founders with lived experience of the challenge and deep motivation to address it. Livework Studio brings 20 years experience of service design including in digital health. The project will position Beanbag to raise commercial investment to bring this product to market and we hope in time will directly benefit large numbers of young people with eating disorders. It will also embed design thinking and capabilities within Beanbag and cement a long term relationship between Beanbag and Livework.