Background: Eating disorders are associated with significant personal and family costs. Clinical guidelines recommend family members be involved and supported during care, but little has been reported regarding the preferences of adults around carer involvement in treatment. The necessary intensity of family work with adults is also unknown. A trial of a standardised brief family involvement method was conducted in an adult eating disorder service offering treatment-as-usual. Uptake and feasibility of implementing the approach as part of standard outpatient care and the preliminary impact on issues identified by adult patients and carers were evaluated.
Methods: Eligible referrals at an adult eating disorders outpatient clinic were offered as needed family consultation to address presenting interpersonal problems identified by patients and their family members, and outcomes were evaluated 4 weeks later. Pre and post intervention surveys identified participant self-reported change in (i) problem frequency, (ii) distress and disruption caused, and (iii) confidence regarding presenting problems. Open text responses provided an overview of patient and carer goals for family involvement and revealed how the novel method impacted these areas as well as overall experience of, and feedback regarding, the brief family intervention.
Results: Twenty-four female participants aged 18-53, and 22 carers participated in 31 consultations. Common concerns raised were eating disorder related interpersonal and communication issues. The focused sessions, offered on a one-at-a-time basis, showed preliminary effectiveness for reducing both patients and carer concerns. For example, adult patients reported that life interference from interpersonal problems was lower and confidence to deal with them was higher following family consultation. Carers also reported that frequency, level of worry, and life interference around presenting problems were lower after the structured family intervention.
Conclusions: Brief family consultation, with a single focus on issues identified by family members and adult patients, was a safe and feasible procedure with adults affected by eating disorders. Effective at meeting the needs of participants, the framework investigated in the current study may also be a useful direction for adult services to consider when looking to support families and meet recommendations for their routine involvement in the outpatient care.
Trial registration: Australian Clinical Trials Register number: ACTRN12621000047897 (www.anzctr.org.au).
Keywords: Adults; Carers; Eating disorders; Families; Family involvement; Single session family consultation.
Eating disorders are serious problems that can have negative consequences for both the person affected and their family members. Research shows that family involvement can support treatment, but little is known about whether adults with eating disorders want their families involved or how much. This study asked if adding a brief family intervention to normal treatment would be safe, viable and effective. The uptake of, and impact from, a one-off family consultation was measured in 24 adult patients and 22 carers who identified the problems they were facing as a result of the eating disorder, how often these were happening, how worried they felt about them, and how much the issues were interfering in their life before and after the family session. Both the patients and carers reported change in these areas. Issues regarding the eating disorder and communication were the most common concerns of adult patients and carers. Feedback about the sessions was positive and one session was enough to address the immediate concerns for many families. Single session family consultation may be a promising option for services working with the families of adults affected by eating disorders to consider in the future.
© 2022. The Author(s).