title: Experienced Carers Helping Others (ECHO): protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial to examine a psycho-educational intervention for adolescents with anorexia nervosa and their carers.
abstract: Experienced Carers Helping Others (ECHO) is an intervention for carers of people with eating disorders. This paper describes the theoretical background and protocol of a pilot multicentre randomised controlled trial that will explore the use of two variants of ECHO for improving outcomes for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) referred for outpatient care. Adolescent patients and their carers (typically parents and close others in a supportive role) will be recruited from 38 eating disorder outpatient services across the UK. Carers will be randomly allocated to receive 'ECHOc' guided self-help (in addition to treatment as usual), 'ECHO' self-help only (in addition to treatment as usual) or treatment as usual only. Primary outcomes are a summary measure of the Short Evaluation of Eating Disorders at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Secondary outcomes are general psychiatric morbidity of AN patients and carer, carers' coping and behaviour, and change in healthcare use and costs at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Therapist effects will be examined, and process evaluation of ECHOc will be completed. The findings from this pilot trial will be used in preparation for executing a definitive trial to determine the impact of the preferred variant of ECHO to improve treatment outcomes for AN.
authors.affiliation: Section of Eating Disorders, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rhind
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hibbs
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goddard
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Micali
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gowers
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beecham
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Macdonald
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Todd
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tchanturia
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Treasure
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012107:Research Design; D012648:Self Care
keywords: Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified; anorexia nervosa; outpatient; treatment; trial