NEDA Educational Toolkits
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The NEDA Toolkits Story
The background
In September 2007 the Board of Directors of NEDA officially approved the organization’s new strategic priorities, listing educational toolkits as a new NEDA priority fitting the new mission “To support those affected by eating disorders and be a catalyst for prevention, cures, and access to quality care.” Educational Toolkits were created to strengthen existing materials and provide vital information to targeted audiences. A list of audiences was prioritized by the board and acts as a reference for ongoing materials and toolkit development.
The toolkit concept
The initial concept of the toolkits was to tie together existing information along with the development of new materials to create complete packages that would help targeted audiences during critical moments in their search for information, help, and yes, hope. They are intended for guidance, not for standards of care and would be based on information available at the time of development. Creation of the toolkits took thoughtful consideration. We identified several core questions as we began working on this project. Two remained topmost in our minds: How do we include our stakeholders in the development stage and what is our plan to revise and enhance the toolkits over time?
Parents and Educators...the starting point
Using the core questions we decided the Parent and Educators Toolkits would be created first. Additional target audiences will include Coaches and Trainers, Health Care Providers, and Individual Patients. We then hired ECRI Institute, a recognized expert in providing publications, information and consulting services internationally for healthcare assessments. Their ability to translate work on behalf of the eating disorders community into useful, real world tools established an excellent partnership for creating the content of the toolkits.
Parents and Educators...the process
ECRI initially created two separate toolkits with a consistent tone. We brought together two focus groups to guide us in the types of information to be included for each of the audiences – parents and educators. ECRI conducted additional interviews with interested elementary and high school teachers and families. Next, ECRI researched and revised existing NEDA educational materials and handouts (as needed) and created new materials as appropriate for each kit. The result was a draft set of “tools” for each toolkit. Some basic information is common to each; other tools are unique to each toolkit. As with all our materials, we want to increase the outreach and support to our constituents while providing reliable information to the general public about the unique and complex nature of eating disorders.
All focus groups agreed that an electronic toolkit, accessible via the NEDA website, would be the easiest, most up-to-date way to make the toolkits available. NEDA researched and reviewed several online toolkits, looking for the best elements of each that could be used to inform the design concept. The final design plan for the organization of each kit was created by designer, David Owens Hastings. ECRI then produced the final documents that are the body of each of the first toolkits. The focus groups reviewed materials one more time and made suggestions for revisions. Their excellent edits and useful comments were integrated into the drafts. Joel Yager, MD , Chair of NEDA’s Clinical and Scientific Advisory Council was a final reviewer on all documents. ECRI then submitted the Toolkit documents to NEDA.
Beyond parent and educators toolkits
We fully recognize that not all the information within each toolkit will be able to address the diversity and the nuances of each person’s and/or family's unique circumstances. Our intent is to provide a single vehicle for a comprehensive overview concerning eating disorders relevent to each audience. We have included resources for further information and will be going deeper as funding permits with each audience. We are imagining at this point in the project Parent and Educator toolkits version 1.0, then version 2.0 and so on. The lifecycle of the toolkits is an important aspect in managing this strategic priority for the organization. Our goal is to maintain the usefulness of the toolkits by reviewing and revising each at two-year intervals and including the most up-to-date research and information. NEDA’s Clinical and Scientific Advisory Council members will be primary reviewers, along with others invited by NEDA, including members of professional organizations that will be disseminating the toolkits. There will be a termination date for each to be determined by the CSAC.
We are currently seeking funding for the ongoing development of toolkits, as well as distribution and marketing. If you or anyone you know may be interested in contributing to, sponsoring or providing a grant to support these efforts, please be sure to contact our Development Office at 206-382-3587, ext. 15; development@myneda.org.
We hope you’ll find these toolkits useful and will share this resource with others.
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