Parental guided self-help family based treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa: A feasibility study.
OBJECTIVE
Family-based treatment (FBT) is an evidence-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.


METHOD
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.


RESULTS
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.


DISCUSSION
Parental GSH-FBT is feasible and acceptable to families willing to undertake online treatment. Follow-up data was only available for nine families (47%); thus further systematic evaluation is required before reaching conclusions about the efficacy of this approach.
['Lock|James|J|0000-0002-5169-1484', 'Darcy|Alison|A|', 'Fitzpatrick|Kathleen Kara|KK|', 'Vierhile|Molly|M|', 'Sadeh-Sharvit|Shiri|S|']
D000293:Adolescent D000856:Anorexia Nervosa D002648:Child D005196:Family Therapy D005240:Feasibility Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D010290:Parents D012657:Self-Help Groups D016896:Treatment Outcome
guided self-help family based treatment anorexia nervosa