Search

Objective: Although hospitalization is sometimes necessary when treating individuals with anorexia nervosa, the available literature provides limited guidance to inform decisions surrounding optimal components or duration of inpatient treatments. We report observational data comparing outcomes of two inpatient treatments. The first was longer and more strictly structured around a Contingency Management Protocol (CMP) emphasizing external incentives for achieving weight‐restoration goals; the second was a shorter Autonomy Support Protocol (ASP) that progressively increased patient autonomy around meal management without external incentives. Method: We compared data from 41 patients who participated in the ASP to a historical sample of 41 patients treated using the CMP. At admission, discharge, and post‐treatment follow‐up, participants completed the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and the Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale‐32, and we measured height and weight to compute body mass index. Results: Multilevel modeling analyses that controlled for time in treatment and time in follow‐up indicated the two protocols yielded equivalent in‐treatment gains and post‐treatment loss of gains. Discussion: Our results indicate that shorter inpatient stays emphasizing autonomous control over eating behavior may yield outcomes that are equivalent to those of lengthier, more stringent, and more costly approaches implicating external incentives and controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We examined the psychometric properties of the Eating Disorder Readiness Ruler a simple self-report instrument designed to enable rapid assessment of readiness to change problematic eating behaviours in people with clinical eating disorders. Method We administered the ED-RR, the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire and a measure of autonomous and controlled motivation for change to 206 individuals receiving outpatient treatment for an eating disorder. Results A principal axis factoring analysis of the ED-RR yielded a significant two-factor solution (explaining 59% of variance)-one factor pertaining to restriction and body image preoccupation (four items), the other to binge-eating and vomiting symptoms (two items). The ED-RR showed good internal consistency (alpha coefficients for the two factors being .77 and .84 respectively). Furthermore, individuals reporting higher readiness showed higher scores on independent measures of autonomous motivation and greater symptom reductions over time. Discussion Results suggest that the ED-RR is a psychometrically sound tool with potential clinical utility. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background Research associates maternal stress exposures (especially when occurring late in gestation) with heightened risk of subsequent emotional and behavioral problems in affected offspring. However, as yet, no study has examined the association between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and affected children's risk of anorexia- or bulimia-type eating disturbances. Objective To study the influences of PNMS on later disordered eating in exposed offspring. Method We used the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT)-26 to measure eating attitudes and behaviors in 54 thirteen-year olds whose mothers had been exposed, while pregnant with these children, to the 1998 Quebec Ice Storm-a natural disaster regarded as a model of exposure to severe environmental stress. Mothers' stress was measured shortly after exposure to the storm using established indices of objective and subjective stress. Results Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses indicated that once variance owing to children's body mass index and sex was accounted for, stress exposures during the third trimester of pregnancy predicted elevated EAT-26 scores in affected children-perhaps even more so when levels of objective stress were high. Discussion Third trimester exposure to PNMS, especially when objectively severe, seems to be associated with increased eating-disorder-linked manifestations in affected early adolescents. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2015; 48:512-516) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This report presents a French translation and validation of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) in a population of women exposed to a natural disaster during or preceding pregnancy.Method: A total of 223 francophone women who were either pregnant at the time of the 1998 ice storm or who became pregnant shortly thereafter completed the IES-R and other questionnaires 6 months after the disaster.Results: The French IES-R has good internal consistency, with alpha coefficients ranging from 0.81 to 0.93 for its 3 subscales and total score. The test-retest reliability of the scale, although examined with another sample, proved to be satisfactory, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.71 to 0.76 for its 3 subscales and total score. Its convergent validity with perceived life threat and general psychiatric symptoms was judged to be marginally acceptable. Finally, a principal components analysis was conducted and a 3-factor solution, which explained 56% of the variance, was retained: a hyperarousal factor (7 items), an avoidance factor (6 items), and an intrusion factor (6 items).Conclusions: The French version of the IES-R has satisfactory internal validity and test-retest reliability. Further, the factor structure of the translation was similar to the proposed theoretical structure of the IES-R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]