Eating disorders are the leading cause of death among psychiatric disorders, highlighting the need for high treatment accessibility. Unfortunately, there are large gaps in the research on treating this group of lethal disorders, particularly concerning diversity in treatment. Treatment for Eating Disorders (EDs) is flawed and limited for individuals from minority groups such as the global majority population, LGBTQ+ community and lower  socioeconomic backgrounds. Mistreatment of EDs are often present through misdiagnosis, delayed treatment and lower recovery rates amongst minority groups patients, due to the systematic barriers and culturally informed resources. It is essential for these gaps to be addressed to ensure underserved communities feel able to access the care that they need to, in some cases, survive.

As a step towards addressing this disparity, Club Majority has produced a culturally-informed Checklist for the Underrepresented in Eating Disorder Treatment (CUED) an Inpatient Eating Disorder Unit for Minoritised Patients. CUED is the checklist that aims to inform healthcare providers about the patient’s culturally diverse needs to ensure patient perceived inclusivity and satisfaction. Moreover, the checklists evaluate the changes in patients mental and physical well being (e.g. physiological changes, psychological distress, length of stay). By taking these steps, Club Majority hopes to increase awareness of intersectionality in the care of eating disorder patients from underrepresented groups, and as such, improve clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction in these populations.

For the evaluation of the tool, Renfrew staff is recommended to use the checklist with ED patients ages 16 and older who identify as a part of at least one minoritised group during the in-patient admission procedure to collect the baseline outcomes. Following this, the checklist can be introduced as a routine admission, and Renfrew can consider and examine how best to integrate the checklist into their admissions processes. A comparison between the before and after of checklist implementation will be discussed based on the patient outcomes and the qualitative data collected from staff and patients. Thus, the sensitivity to the needs of minority group patients is proposed to be implemented by Renfrew’s staff to enhance patient comfort and avoid any misdiagnosis or delay in treatment, leading to improved and suitable care for all ED patients.