This page was translated automatically from Turkish. Read the original

This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

Strengthening and modernising the care pathway for pregnant patients with eating disorders

To strengthen and modernise the pathway for pregnant patients with an eating disorder (pped)

A quality improvement initiative involving the expansion of the multidisciplinary team and the standardisation of clinical processes has increased the capacity, consistency and coordination of the care pathway for pregnant patients with eating disorders.

The study aimed to strengthen and modernise an existing specialist care pathway, given the significant risks that eating disorders (EDs) pose to maternal health, obstetric outcomes and infant development during pregnancy. During the perinatal period, fear of weight gain, distress about bodily changes, anxiety about fetal growth and concerns about losing weight after childbirth can exacerbate symptoms; additional challenges include effects on breastfeeding decisions, increased vulnerability to relapse in the postpartum period and an elevated risk of postpartum depression. The service, which had offered a specialist pathway for pregnant patients with severe eating disorders for more than fifteen years, was run by a small team working with limited resources; restructuring the service under the Community Transformation programme created an opportunity to strengthen this pathway. A quality improvement (QI) project was undertaken to expand the multidisciplinary team (MDT), improve clinical processes and enhance resources for both clinicians and patients. The team was expanded to include psychiatrists, nursing, occupational therapy, social work, dietetics and peer support, and monthly team meetings were introduced to improve communication and care coordination. A three-year retrospective audit guided service development, and a structured database was established to support ongoing evaluation. Shared clinical resources, patient information materials and standardised templates for antenatal and postnatal Care Programme Approach (CPA) meetings were also developed. These developments are reported to have improved care capacity, consistency and coordination, supporting more holistic and needs-responsive care for pregnant patients with eating disorders.

All WCP 2026 summaries