Auteurs:
Hélène Tzieropoulos Osterlof | Service Universitaire de la Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, DP, CHUV | Switzerland
Dr. Carolin Janetschek | Service Universitaire de la Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, DP, CHUV | Switzerland
PD Dr Sébastien Urben | Service Universitaire de la Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, DP, CHUV | Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Kerstin von Plessen | Service Universitaire de la Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, DP, CHUV | Switzerland
Background: Specialized family therapies for the treatment of adolescent eating disorders (ED) are nowadays the gold standard in most western countries across the globe, particularly for anorexia nervosa. Originating in London's Maudsley Hospital in the 1990s, the first models have evolved with one major development being the manualization of the outpatient treatment as found in FBT ("Family Based Treatment").
Methods: At the SUPEA - CHUV in Lausanne, the outpatient eating disorders unit offers FBT to adolescents with ED and their families since January 2022. The treatment takes place in three stages, with an initial focus on weight restoration given the physical complications associated with starvation. Indeed, beyond the somatic emergency itself, research shows that without physical recovery first, a full recovery is compromised. In family sessions, parents are guided to take charge of their child's recovery process, following the fundamental principles of FBT: a non-authoritarian stance, externalization of the ED, agnostic view on the etiology of the illness, parents' empowerment and pragmatism.
At assessment, families complete a set of questionnaires assessing ED symptoms and family functioning and the patient undergoes a screening for comorbidities. Some questionnaires are filled in again at regular intervals until the end of treatment. Basic data is also collected regarding age of patient, duration of treatment, outcome. This data is used internally for monitoring purposes, and a subset will be part of a multicentric study describing the implementation of FBT in three European countries.
Results: Data collected so far emphasises the relevance of a specialized outpatient ED unit with encouraging recovery rates even for critical cases that would have been traditionally hospitalized. Results of the questionnaires are routinely used to give feedback on the progress and are highly appreciated by the families.
Discussion: The integration of data collection in the unit has yielded positive outcomes at various levels: internally, both for the families but also for the clinicians, offering a new tool to reflect on treatment progress; at the level of the organisation, to have numbers to support the relevance of a specialized unit and the impact on hospitalisation rates; and internationally, to take part in larger research projects and explore the challenges related to implementing a new model of treatment across different countries.