title: The effects of a multiple family therapy on adolescents with eating disorders: an outcome study.
abstract: Multiple Family Therapy (MFT) has gained increasing popularity in the treatment of eating disorders and many programs have been developed over the past decade. Still, there is little evidence in the literature on the effectiveness on MFT for treating eating disorders. The present study examines the effects of a particular model of Multiple Family Therapy on eating disorder symptoms, quality of life, and percentage of Expected Body Weight (%EBW) in adolescents with eating disorders (ED). Eighty-two adolescents with ED, aged between 11 and 19 years, were assessed before and after treatment using the Eating Disorders Inventory 2 (EDI-2), the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45) and %EBW. Results showed a significant increase in %EBW between the beginning and end of treatment, with a large effect size. 52.4% of patients achieved an EBW above 85%. Symptoms relative to all EDI dimensions (except for bulimia) significantly decreased during treatment. The three dimensions related to quality of life assessment also improved over the course of MFT. At the end of treatment, 70.7% of patients had a total OQ-45 score below clinical significance. This study suggests that Multiple Family Therapy may benefit adolescents with eating disorders, with improvement on several outcome measures (%EBW, ED symptoms, and quality of life). However, the lack of a comparison group entails caution when drawing conclusions.
authors.affiliation: Systemic and Psychodynamic Clinical Psychology Department, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium.
authors.forename: Zoé
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gelin
authors.forename: Silvana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fuso
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hendrick
authors.forename: Solange
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cook-Darzens
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001530:Belgium; D001835:Body Weight; D002032:Bulimia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D005190:Family; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescents; Eating Disorders; Multiple Family Therapy; Outcome; Treatment Effectiveness; adolescentes; eficacia del tratamiento; resultado; terapia familiar múltiple; trastornos alimentarios; 多重家庭心理治疗; 治疗效果; 结果; 青少年; 饮食失调