Multiple Family Therapy for Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa: a One-year Follow-up

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. In this presentation, we examine the effects of a particular model of MFT on eating disorder symptoms, quality of life (OQ-45) and percentage of expected body weight (%EBW) in adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Eighty-two ED adolescents, aged between 11 and 19 years, were assessed pre-, post- treatment and at one-year follow-up using the EDI-2, the OQ-45 and %EBW. Results showed a significant increase in %EBW between the beginning of treatment and the end of treatment. At one-year follow- up, %EBW continue to improve significantly. 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 the patients had a total OQ-45 score below clinical significance. At one-year follow-up, no significant differences were found for the OQ measures and for the EDI measures, showing quality of life, ED symptoms and related psychological features stabilise after the end of treatment. This study suggests that Multiple Family Therapy may benefit adolescents with anorexia nervosa, with improvement on several outcome measures at the end of treatment, remaining stable at one-year follow-up. The improvement of %EBW at one-year follow-up indicate MFT continue to have effects after treatment is complete. However, the lack of a comparison group entails caution when drawing conclusions.