Optimising evidence-based intervention for children and young people with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake disorder (360G-Wellcome-343006_Z_25_Z)

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is characterised by a clinically significant restriction or avoidance of food, driven by sensory sensitivities, low interest in food, and/or fear of the consequences of eating (APA, 2013). Despite increasing recognition, ARFID remains under-researched, with limited evidence-based interventions (Haidar et al., 2025). This research therefore aims to develop, refine, and evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a modular intervention for children and young people with ARFID. Modular interventions are flexible and customisable, comprising interchangeable components that can be tailored to individual needs, maintaining factors, and symptom profiles. Initially a systematic review exploring components, delivery requirements and outcomes of therapeutic interventions for children and young people with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder will be conducted. This will be followed by the development and iterative refinement of a modular intervention using a Plan Do Study Act methodology. Stakeholder feedback and clinical data will be used to optimise content and delivery. The final phase of this study will be a single-arm case- series study to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the refined modular intervention across 2 clinical services. Findings will inform future trials and provide the beginning of an evidence-based pathway for scalable ARFID intervention development.