Caregivers in anorexia nervosa: is grief underlying parental burden?

Jeanne Duclos ,Frédéric Rouillon ,Régine Greiner ,Catherine Doyen ,Marie–Christine Mouren ,Guy Carrot ,Aurélia Gay ,Nellie Moulopo ,Jean-Luc Vénisse ,Maryline Delattre ,Damien Ringuenet ,Sarah Vibert ,Christelle Auger ,Bruno Falissard ,Sébastien Billard ,Priscille Gérardin ,Olivier Chacornac ,Ludovic Placé ,Stéphanie Bioulac ,Christine Hassler ,Christelle Turuban ,Marie-Raphaële Thiébaud ,Lama Mattar ,S Lambert ,Jean-Pierre Benoit ,Annaïg Courty ,Claire Gayet ,Morgane Rousselet ,Jean-Marc Tréluyer ,François Lang ,Clémentine Nordon ,Mathieu Delorme ,Sophie Faucher ,Hélène Roux ,Giulia Piva ,Soline Blondin ,Tamara Hubert ,Virginie Mourier-Soleillant ,Élise Riquin ,Xavier Pommereau ,Solange Cook‐Darzens ,Dominique Meilleur ,Christophe Lalanne ,Marc-Antoine Podlipski ,Laura Bignami ,Sylvie Berthoz ,Karine Doncieux ,Catherine Fayollet ,Manuel Bouvard ,Christophe Génolini ,Corinne Blanchet ,Sylvie Lebecq ,Marie Bronnec ,Solange Cook ,Jennifer Carrere ,Marie-Rose Moro ,Amélie Prexl ,Malaïka Lasfar ,Nathalie Godart

doi:10.1007/s40519-023-01530-x

Abstract

PurposeAnorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe chronic disorder and parents’ experience of caregiving is usually marked by emotional distress and burden. Severe chronic psychiatric disorders are known to be linked with the concept of grief. Grief has not been investigated in AN. The aim of this study was to explore parents’ and adolescents’ characteristics that may be related to parental burden and grief in AN, and the link between these two dimensions.MethodsEighty mothers, 55 fathers and their adolescents (N = 84) hospitalized for AN participated in this study. Evaluations of clinical characteristics of the adolescent’s illness were completed, as well as self-evaluations of adolescent and parental emotional distress (anxiety, depression, alexithymia). Levels of parental burden were evaluated with the Experience of Caregiving Inventory and levels of parental grief with the Mental Illness Version of the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief.ResultsMain findings indicated that the burden was higher in parents of adolescents with a more severe AN; fathers’ burden was also significantly and positively related to their own level of anxiety. Parental grief was higher when adolescents’ clinical state was more severe. Paternal grief was related to higher anxiety and depression, while maternal grief was correlated to higher alexithymia and depression. Paternal burden was explained by the father’s anxiety and grief, maternal burden by the mother’s grief and her child’s clinical state.ConclusionParents of adolescents suffering from AN showed high levels of burden, emotional distress and grief. These inter-related experiences should be specific targets for intervention aimed at supporting parents. Our results support the extensive literature on the need to assist fathers and mothers in their caregiving role. This in turn may improve both their mental health and their abilities as caregivers of their suffering child.Level of evidenceLevel III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.

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