Eating disorder treatment practice standards

Eating disorders are complex illnesses that require a co-ordinated multidisciplinary approach to care. On graduation from university it is widely recognised that health practitioners may be poorly positioned to treat eating disorders due to the limited and/or inconsistent eating disorder-specific education provided in the tertiary sector. Post tertiary studies, opportunities exist for health practitioners to engage in training to develop eating disorder-specific knowledge and skills. However, the absence of minimum treatment and training standards and competency-based assessments, results in variation and inconsistency in the delivery of treatment. This themed issue on "Eating disorder treatment practice standards" in Journal of Eating Disorders brings together a series of papers that outline the knowledge and skills required as a foundation on which to build competent and more consistent practice in the eating disorder field and provides commentary on the implementation of these practices within multidisciplinary eating disorder treatment.