This is a research project on treatment decision-making in anorexia nervosa. The aim is to better understand the factors affecting how patients who have anorexia nervosa make treatment decisions and how psychiatrists think about this. We are particularly interested in the ethical issues surrounding competence and the use of compulsory treatment. This project is supported by the Eating Disorders Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

We would like to include psychiatrists ranging from those who rarely see eating disorder patients, to those who specialise in treating eating disorders. Approximately 1500 psychiatrists who are members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and belong to the Eating Disorders Special Interest Group, the General Adult Psychiatry Faculty from the South East and London Regions, and the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Faculty from the South East and London Regions, have been selected as the sample for this study. Every response is very important to us. Assisting us involves completing a self-administered postal questionnaire, which takes about 20 minutes.

In order for us to not trouble respondents again while preserving anonymity, we have given each questionnaire a code number. The database of names and code numbers is stored separately and will not be matched up with the participant’s name and details for data entry or analysis.

Every questionnaire received will go into a prize draw for 3 cash prizes of £500, £300 and £200. The prizes will be paid for from Dr. Tan’s research fellowship from the Wellcome Trust and no sponsorship has been sought.

This study has multi-centre research ethics approval from the Oxfordshire Research Ethics Committee B, reference MREC no. 04/Q1605/21. Results of this study will be posted on the Ethox Website: www.ethox.org.uk. All responses are confidential and reports of the survey will only refer to aggregate patterns of responses.

If you have been sent a questionnaire, we would be very grateful if you could assist us in this research, as every response is very valuable to us. We are interested in receiving responses from the whole range of psychiatrists, including those who are retired and those who never see patients with anorexia nervosa, so please do not think that you do not have anything to contribute to this research. If you have lost your questionnaire or the Freepost envelope, please contact Jacinta Tan who will be happy to send you another.