A Family-Based Eating Disorder Day Treatment Program for Youth: Examining the Clinical and Statistical Significance of Short-Term Treatment Outcomes

Abstract

This article describes an innovative family-based day treatment program (DTP) for youth with moderate to severe eating disorders. A sample of 65 youth completed a battery of psychological measures pre- and post-treatment and 6 months after program completion. Treatment outcomes were assessed in three main domains: (a) medical stabilization, (b) normalization of eating behavior, and (c) improved psychological functioning. Overall, patients demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements on all outcome measures. Findings indicate that a comprehensive DTP can successfully facilitate positive outcomes in youth with eating disorders and that these improvements can be maintained 6 months post-treatment.

Intensive treatment program (ITP): A case series service evaluation of the effectiveness of day patient treatment for adolescents with a restrictive eating disorder

“…Admission rates reported for other day programs range from 35.7 (Goldstein et al, ) to 22.7% (AN, Ornstein et al, ), 17% (Johnston et al, ), 15% (Dancyger et al, 2003), and 17% (Orstein et al, 2012). It is worth noting that the relatively low inpatient admission rate was achieved despite weights on admission to ITP being lower than in most other reported day hospital programs (Ornstein et al, , ; Grewal et al, ; Girz et al, , Dancyger et al, ; Goldstein et al, , 2017; Green et al, ; Henderson et al, ).…”

Augmentative Approaches in Family‐Based Treatment for Adolescents with Restrictive Eating Disorders: A Systematic Review

“…All participants in comparative studies were aged 10–20 years at baseline. Five non‐comparative studies (Gelin, Hendrick, & Simon, ; Girz, Robinson, Foroughe, Jasper, & Boachie, ; Hurst & Zimmer‐Gembeck, ; Paulson‐Karlsson, Engstrom, & Nevonen, ; Robinson, Strahan, Girz, Wilson, & Boachie, ) had adolescent‐only samples, with the remaining samples comprising a mixture of children (<11 years), adolescents and young adults (>18 years) (Doyle, ; Henderson et al, ; Hoste, ; Johnston, O'Gara, Koman, Baker, & Anderson, ; Jones, Volker, Lock, Taylor, & Jacobi, ; Ornstein et al, ; Rienecke, Richmond, & Lebow, ; Rockwell, Boutelle, Trunko, Jacobs, & Kaye, ). Three non‐comparative studies reported mean ages of 14–15 years without stating overall age ranges (Hollesen, Clausen, & Rokkedal, ; Robinson et al, ; Salaminiou, Campbell, Simic, Kuipers, & Eisler, ), while Doyle et al (2013) reported outcomes in an intensive outpatient program separately for children (10–13 years) and adolescents (14–18 years), between whom there were no significant differences on any assessments.…”

“…These programs also included psychiatric and medical monitoring, dietetic counselling and support for patients and parents at supervised meal‐times. Group and individual therapy modalities were generally CBT‐based and DBT‐based, although were not described in detail in two programs (Henderson et al, ; Ornstein et al, ; Robinson et al, ). Two studies reported on different samples participating in the same partial hospitalisation program (Hoste, ; Rienecke et al, ).…”

Family-based treatment of eating disorders in adolescents: current insights

“…Preliminary outcome data for this program show improvements in eating-disorder psychopathology and parental self-efficacy. Other descriptions of family-based PHPs show promising preliminary outcomes 54,55. Although from a clinical perspective, some patients seem to require higher levels of care, further studies are needed to determine whether higher levels of care are as effective as empirically supported forms of outpatient therapy, such as FBT or CBT.…”