The Effects of a Multiple Family Therapy on Adolescents with Eating Disorders: An Outcome Study

• Author: Silvana Fuso,Solange Cook‐Darzens,Stephan Hendrick,Yves Simon,Zoé Gelin
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12103
• Date: 01 March 2015
• Published date: 01 March 2015

The Effects of a Multiple Family Therapy on

Adolescents with Eating Disorders: An Outcome

Study

ZO



E GELIN*

SILVANA FUSO

†

STEPHAN HENDRICK*

SOLANGE COOK-DARZENS

‡

YVES SIMON

†

Multiple Family Therapy (MFT) has gained increasing popularity in the treatment of

eating disorders and many programs have been developed over the past decade. Still, there

is little evidence in the literature on the effectiveness on MFT for treating eating disorders.

The present study examines the effects of a particular model of Multiple Family Therapy

on eating disorder symptoms, quality of life, and percentage of Expected Body Weight

(%EBW) in adolescents with eating disorders (ED). Eighty-two adolescents with ED, aged

between 11 and 19 years, were assessed befor e and after treatment using the Eating Disor-

ders Inventory 2 (EDI-2), the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45) and %EBW. Results

showed a significant increase in %EBW between the beginning and end of treatment, with

a large effect size. 52.4% of patients achieved an EBW above 85%. 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 patients had a total OQ-45 score below clinical significance.

This study suggests that Multiple Family Therapy may benefit adolescents with eating dis-

orders, with improvement on several outcome measures (%EBW, ED symp toms, and qual-

ity of life). However, the lack of a comparison group entails caution when drawing

conclusions.

Keywords: Multiple Family Therapy; Eating Disorders; Adolescents; Outcome; Treatment

Effectiveness

Fam Proc 54:160–172, 2015

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious mental and behavioral disorder with significant psy-

chiatric and medical morbidity (Klump, Bulik, Kaye, Treasure, & Tys on, 2009). The

prevalence of anorexia nervosa is estimated to be up to 0.9% in young females (Smink, van

*Systemic and Psychodynamic Clinical Psychology Department, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium.

†

Centre Th

erapeutique du Trouble Alimentaire de l’Adolescent (CTTA), Centre Hospitalier Le Domaine, Braine

l’Alleud Belgium.

‡

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Robert Debr

e Hospital, Paris, France.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Zo

e Gelin, Systemic and Psychodynamic

Clinical Psychology Department, University of Mons, Place du Parc 18, Mons 7000, Belgium. E-mail: zoe.

gelin@umons.ac.be.

The CTTA (Therapeutic Centre for Adolescents suffering from Eating Disorders) is a pilot-project funded

by the Belgian Federal Public Service—health, food chain safety, and environment. We would like to

thank the parents’ association Miata for its support and the team of the CTTA for collecting data.

160

Family Process, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2015 ©2014 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12103