None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Research has highlighted the high level of burden and distress experienced by individuals caring for a family member with an eating disorder (Treasure, 2008). The present study aims to evaluate a brief, two-session group psychoeducation and skills-based intervention for the carers of individuals with an eating disorder. This intervention aims to reduce carers’ distress levels whilst reducing their perceived burden of care, accommodating and enabling behaviours and level of expressed emotion and improving their knowledge of eating disorders and coping self-efficacy. The associated costs of caring for an individual with an eating disorder highlight the need for interventions to be both time efficient and cost effective (Highet, Thomson, & King, 2005). The brief and manualised nature of the proposed intervention makes it highly feasible and easy to disseminate, maximising access to necessary information and training. Criteria for inclusion in the study will be: a) aged over 18 years; b) able to read and speak English fluently; c) currently caring for an individual with a diagnosed eating disorder (for the purpose of this project, carer is defined as a parent, sibling, friend, or partner). Participants will be recruited directly through the Centre for Clinical Interventions and via interest groups (e.g., Butterfly Foundation) and media advertising (e.g., Curtin fm, social media). This evaluation will be run as a randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing the intervention to waitlist controls. Participants allocated to the waitlist control group will still receive the intervention within 2 months of agreeing to participate in the project. Running this evaluation as an RCT, as opposed to a single group pre-post evaluation, will allow us to determine the efficacy of the intervention without the potential confounds associated with the passage of time. Each participant will attend two, 150-minute group sessions spaced one week apart. The outcome variables of the study will be: depression/anxiety symptoms, self-efficacy, perceived burden of care, accommodating and enabling behaviours, level of expressed emotion, knowledge of eating disorders, interpersonal caregiver skills. The study will also measure changes in the carers’ interpersonal skills as perceived by the individual with the eating disorder.
Interventions
The intervention involves attending two 150-minute group sessions at a community mental health clinic (Centre for Clinical Interventions, Perth, Western Australia). Content for both group sessions has been adapted from Skills-based learning for caring for a loved one with an eating disorder: the new Maudsley method (Treasure, Smith, & Crane, 2007). The first session content will involve a summary of psychoeducation information (sent out in an information pack prior to the intervention), focusing
The intervention involves attending two 150-minute group sessions at a community mental health clinic (Centre for Clinical Interventions, Perth, Western Australia). Content for both group sessions has been adapted from Skills-based learning for caring for a loved one with an eating disorder: the new Maudsley method (Treasure, Smith, & Crane, 2007). The first session content will involve a summary of psychoeducation information (sent out in an information pack prior to the intervention), focusing on the role of genetics, biological, and neurological factors (e.g. starvation syndrome). Participants will be invited to ask questions and discuss anything they found surprising. The role of environmental factors will also be discussed, and the interpersonal maintenance model of eating disorders will be introduced. Common communication "traps" will be discussed as a group (with participants providing personal examples). Homework between sessions will involve approaching the individual with the eating disorder and setting a time to discuss the eating disorder either one-on-one or with the family. The second session will occur one week later and will also be 150-minutes in duration. The homework task will be reviewed, and participants will be introduced to a number of strategies they can utilise when difficult situations arise in relation to the individual with the eating disorder. Participants will be asked to role play difficult situations and practice using helpful phrases and simple techniques recommended by Treasure and colleagues (2008) in order to diffuse them. The intervention will be co-facilitated by two therapists. One therapist will be a qualified masters or doctoral level clinical psychologist, and the second therapist will be a qualified masters or doctoral level clinical psychologist or a provisionally registered psychologist (clinical psychologist trainee). Group facilitators will be guided by a protocol and overheads to standardise delivery. The psychoeducation sessions will be audio-recorded and an independent assessor will complete a standardised form to indicate whether all components were completed for each group session.
Sponsors
Curtin University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
7 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
1) Carers must be aged over 18 years; 2) able to speak and read English fluently, 3) currently care for someone with diagnosed eating disorder (either as a friend, family member or partner). Participants are also asked to invite the person with the eating disorder to complete a questionnaire on their perspective of their caregiver’s skills before and after the intervention. These participants may be under age 18, but will still receive an information sheet and consent form that will be co-signed by their parent/guardian.
Exclusion criteria
The carers attending the psychoeducation groups must be adults (18 years or over). As has been standard practice at CCI for several years, no other exclusion criteria will be applied for the carer groups. The individual with the eating disorder must be at least 7 years of age before being invited to provide data about their relationship with the carer at pre, post, and follow-up.
Outcome results
None listed