Family Treatment for Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa
Acceptance Based Separated Family Treatment for Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa
1 other identifier
interventional
26
1 country
2
Brief Summary
This treatment development study seeks to investigate the most effective way to treat an adolescent's eating disorder and how best to involve the parents or caregivers in this process. Typically, parents and their child are seen together in therapy. However, this can sometimes be difficult for both the parents and the adolescent. Both parents and adolescents have different concerns and are struggling with different aspects of the eating disorder. Therefore, the treatment in this study involves the parents in treatment, but the majority of therapy sessions are conducted with the parent(s) and adolescent separately. Participants meet with a therapist for 20 sessions over the course of 24 weeks. For the first 16 weeks parents and the adolescent meet individually with the therapist. For the last 8 weeks families meet with the therapist every other week. These last four sessions are conjoint - that is, adolescents and parents will meet with the therapist together. This is to help parents and adolescents come together as a family to continue to aid the adolescent in the treatment of his/her eating disorder. The investigators hypothesize that adolescents who receive this treatment will demonstrate improvement in eating disorder symptoms and body-mass index and that caregivers who participate will demonstrate decreased distress and caregiver burden. Furthermore, the investigators hypothesize that increases in psychological acceptance will be seen for both adolescents and caregivers post-treatment, and that treatment will be viewed as both credible and acceptable to both caregiver and adolescent.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P25-P50 for phase_1
2 active sites
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
Study Start
First participant enrolled
May 1, 2009
CompletedFirst Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
January 19, 2011
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
January 21, 2011
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
May 1, 2012
CompletedMay 19, 2014
May 1, 2014
3 years
January 19, 2011
May 16, 2014
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
Body Mass Index (BMI
9 months (6 months active treatment, 3 months follow-up)
Secondary Outcomes (1)
Eating Disorder Examination (16.0D)
9 months (6 months of treatment and 3 month follow-up)
Study Arms (1)
Active Treatment
EXPERIMENTALInterventions
Family treatment that combines Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for the adolescent with Parent Skills Training for caregivers. The treatment package is designed to increase willingness to experience difficult thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations in order to engage in effective behavior. To facilitate this, caregivers are provided with psychoeducation on eating disorders and skills in behavior management, self-regulation, and emotion regulation.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Adolescent is between 12-18 years of age and living in home with caregivers
- Parent or primary caregiver willing to attend therapy sessions
- Adolescent meets diagnostic criteria of anorexia nervosa (either restricting or binge/purge subtype) or subthreshold AN (relaxation of weight criterion to 90% of ideal body weight as determined by weight history and CDC growth curves) or eating disorder not otherwise specified (with restricting as the primary symptom) according to the DSM-IV TR
- Adolescent is appropriate for outpatient care and receives medical clearance from a primary care physician
You may not qualify if:
- Caregiver or adolescent with a co-morbid diagnosis of psychotic disorder, bi-polar disorder, or substance dependence
- Caregiver or adolescent with diagnosis of mental retardation or a pervasive developmental disorder
- Adolescent with a diagnosis of eating disorder not otherwise specified with the primary symptoms of bingeing and purging, binging without compensatory behaviors or spitting food or with restricting patterns but a BMI greater than 90% ideal weight (as determined by weight history and CDC growth curves)
- Adolescent with extreme malnutrition or other medical complications/ diagnoses that require a higher level of care
- Acute suicide risk
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
- Towson Universitylead
- University of the Sciences in Philadelphiacollaborator
- Duke Universitycollaborator
Study Sites (2)
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, North Carolina, 27713, United States
University of the Sciences
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States
Related Publications (1)
Timko CA, Zucker NL, Herbert JD, Rodriguez D, Merwin RM. An open trial of Acceptance-based Separated Family Treatment (ASFT) for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Behav Res Ther. 2015 Jun;69:63-74. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2015.03.011. Epub 2015 Mar 28.
PMID: 25898341DERIVED
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Alix Timko, PhD
Towson University/University of the Sciences
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- phase 1
- Allocation
- NON RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- TREATMENT
- Intervention Model
- SINGLE GROUP
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Assistant Professor
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
January 19, 2011
First Posted
January 21, 2011
Study Start
May 1, 2009
Primary Completion
May 1, 2012
Last Updated
May 19, 2014
Record last verified: 2014-05