Abstract

Family Based Treatment (FBT) is an evidenced based treatment for adolescent Anorexia Nervosa (AN), but many families cannot access it. This study evaluated feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary treatment effects of a parental guided self-help (GSH) version of FBT for adolescent AN.This was a case-series design. Parents of medically stable adolescents (11-18 years) with DSM-5 AN were recruited over 12 months. Parents received online training in parental GSH FBT and 12 20-30 min GSH sessions by phone or online over 6 months. Recruitment, dropout, changes in weight, and eating related psychopathology were assessed. Analyses used mixed modeling that included all data for all participants.Of the 19 families that participated, most were white (94%) and from intact families (88%). Baseline median BMI (mBMI) percent was 85.01% (SD?=?4.31). Participants' mBMI percent increased to 97.31% (SD?±?7.48) at the end of treatment (EOT) (ES?=?2.06;CI= 0.13-3.99). Eating related psychopathology improved by EOT (ES?=?0.58;CI=.04-1.21). Dropout rate was 21% during treatment and 33% during follow-up.Parental GSH-FBT is feasible and acceptable to families willing to undertake online treatment. Follow-up data was only available for 9 families (47%); thus further systematic evaluation is required before reaching conclusions about the efficacy of this approach.

View details for DOI 10.1002/eat.22733

View details for PubMedID 28580715