Therapeutic engagement: Perspectives from adolescents with eating disorders.
This study aimed to identify factors that adolescents with eating disorders (ED) consider important for therapeutic engagement, and to examine similarities and differences in the number of identified factors considered important for therapeutic engagement based on diagnostic status and readiness and motivation to change dietary restriction behaviors. Treatment seeking adolescent females (n=34, Mage=16.33, SD=1.34) with an ED were prompted to generate responses to 4 constructs related to therapeutic engagement: (1) Trust, (2) Agreement on therapeutic goals, (3) Confidence in Ability to Change and (4) Feelings of Inclusion in therapeutic decisions. A coding scheme for each construct was developed using a random sample of responses, and each category within a construct was rated as present or absent for each participant. Frequencies and percentages of participants who reported each category within each construct are reported. Additionally, findings indicate that the top two out of three categories reported within each construct were the same between participants with AN versus EDNOS, and between participants high and low in readiness and motivation to change dietary restriction behaviors. This study is a first step in identifying aspects of therapeutic engagement that are important to adolescents with ED, which may differ from adults.
Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: shannon_zaitsoff@sfu.ca.
Shannon
S
Zaitsoff
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United States. Electronic address: angelina.yiu@temple.edu.
Angelina
A
Yiu
Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Rachelle
R
Pullmer
Eating Disorders Program, Saint Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada.
Josie
J
Geller
Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Rosanne
R
Menna
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D036301:Qualitative Research
Adolescents; Eating disorders; Therapeutic engagement