This disordered eating early identification and prevention guideline/policy template is designed to assist sporting organisations to develop and implement their own national guideline/policy. It provides a framework to address key areas for the early identification and prevention of disordered eating in elite athletes and guide policy and practice in this space.

To assist organisations to develop their own guideline or policy based on this template, the AIS recommends organisations engage the support of their Core Multidisciplinary Team (CMT). If this does not exist, then organisations might engage relevant professional support to ensure the specific of their context are considered.

In 2020 the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) released the “AIS-NEDC position statement on disordered eating in high performance sport”.

The position statement is a ‘call-to-action’, aimed at highlighting a significant but often under-acknowledged issue within the high performance sporting environment.

All high performance sporting organisations have a responsibility to prioritise the physical and mental health of their athletes. This can be assisted by the implementation of a disordered eating early identification and prevention guideline/policy.

These considerations have been developed to guide policy and practice within high performance sport in the area of body composition assessment and the specific considerations that arise in relation to disordered eating. They may be used as a reference for the development of minimum standards by National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) or adopted in full. It’s recommended that NSOs and National Institute Network (NIN) partners contemplate adopting these considerations.

While these considerations are specific to the assessment of body composition, the same principles should be considered when related assessment of athlete’s bodies are undertaken.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Monitoring changes in body mass to assess hydration themes
• Assessing power to weight ratios in strength testing
• Marking up for movement analysis

Assessments of body composition provide a useful tool to determine the impact of nutrition strategies and training interventions.

However, in particular athletes, such activities have the potential to cause harm. Protocols should be established and implemented before, during and after assessments of body composition to reduce this risk.

Eating Disorders in Sport (EDiS) is an interactive workshop developed by the AIS and the NEDC for all role holders (coaches and performance support staff) within the high performance sporting system.  EDiS has been designed to be consistent with and compliment the AIS Mental Health in Sport workshop. The aims of EDiS are to:

1. Increase participant awareness and knowledge of:

• The signs and symptoms of disordered eating and eating disorders in athletes.
• The importance of prevention and early identification of disordered eating and eating disorders in athletes.

2. Increase participant confidence to help an athlete with disordered eating or an eating disorder up to the scope of their role.

Date: TBC

To express your interest in attending a workshop, contact disorderedeating@ausport.gov.au.