title: Short-term intensive family therapy for adolescent eating disorders: 30-month outcome.
abstract: Family therapy approaches have generated impressive empirical evidence in the treatment of adolescent eating disorders (EDs). However, the paucity of specialist treatment providers limits treatment uptake; therefore, our group developed the intensive family therapy (IFT)-a 5-day treatment based on the principles of family-based therapy for EDs. We retrospectively examined the long-term efficacy of IFT in both single-family (S-IFT) and multi-family (M-IFT) settings evaluating 74 eating disordered adolescents who underwent IFT at the University of California, San Diego, between 2006 and 2013. Full remission was defined as normal weight (≥ 95% of expected for sex, age, and height), Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) global score within 1 SD of norms, and absence of binge-purging behaviours. Partial remission was defined as weight ≥ 85% of expected or ≥ 95% but with elevated EDE-Q global score and presence of binge-purging symptoms (<1/week). Over a mean follow-up period of 30 months, 87.8% of participants achieved either full (60.8%) or partial remission (27%), while 12.2% reported a poor outcome, with both S-IFT and M-IFT showing comparable outcomes. Short-term, intensive treatments may be cost-effective and clinically useful where access to regular specialist treatment is limited.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marzola
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knatz
authors.forename: Stuart B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Roxanne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rockwell
authors.forename: Kerri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boutelle
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eisler
authors.forename: Walter H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Kaye
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D001835:Body Weight; D002140:California; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: anorexia nervosa; eating disorders; family therapy; intensive family therapy; multi-family therapy