Information processing and family-based interventions in eating disorders

Jones, Roshan (2018) Information processing and family-based interventions in eating disorders. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Aims: Two meta-analyses of under-researched areas within the eating disorder field are presented. The first explored whether people with binge eating disorder (BED) exhibit greater deficits in attentional bias (AB) when attending to food stimuli compared to controls. The second explored whether eating disorder-focused family therapy (ED-FT) for young people with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is effective when compared to other forms of family therapy (FT).

Methods: The first meta-analysis produced 13 studies, which were analysed using a Hedges’s g random effects model. The second meta-analysis identified 15 papers for ED-FT and seven for multifamily therapy (MFT). The analysis of ED-FT compared with other forms of FT was conducted using an Odds ratio random effects model; the analysis of changes in weight for MFT was conducted using a Hedges’s g random effects model.

Results: The first meta-analysis yielded a pooled Hedges’s g effect size of -.12 (95% CI: -.36, .12), indicating no statistically significant difference between groups (p = .339). The second meta-analysis found a non-significant pooled Odds ratio effect of .64 (95% CI: .36, 1.12) indicating that ED-FT was not as efficacious when compared with other forms of FT. The effect of MFT on changes in weight yielded a pooled medium Hedges’s g effect of .64 (95% CI: .23, 1.05), indicating that MFT may be a promising alternative treatment to ED-FT.

Conclusions: The results of the first meta-analysis do not support the theory that ABs are greater in BED. Future research is needed to produce higher quality research which tests other components of ABs in BED. The second meta-analysis highlights the need for research into the efficacy of other forms of FT or modifications to ED FT. Patients receiving MFT appear to gain weight; however, the lack of comparison groups limits the ability to draw firm conclusions.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Users 9280 not found.
Date Deposited:	16 Nov 2018 13:52
Last Modified:	26 Nov 2018 15:02
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/68934
DOI:

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