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Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
Expressed emotion and long-term outcome among adolescents with anorexia nervosa
Renee D Rienecke1,2, Sasha Gorrell3, Dan V Blalock4,5
1Eating Recovery Center/Pathlight Mood and Anxiety Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Objective:
The purpose of the current study is to examine expressed emotion (EE) and long-term treatment outcome among adolescents participating in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) for treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN). It was hypothesized that patients with high EE parents at baseline would show more severe symptoms at end-of-treatment, 12-month follow-up, and 4-year follow-up than patients from low EE families.
Method:
Secondary data analysis was conducted of original RCT data from a two-site eating disorder treatment trial conducted in the United States. Participants were 121 adolescents with AN who completed measures of EE, eating disorder psychopathology, depression, and self-esteem.
Results:
Generalized estimating equations showed that participants who were in the Low EE group achieved a more accelerated drop in depression scores in the context of treatment (first 12 months) than participants in the High EE group. No other significant Group × Time interactions were found.
Discussion:
Findings suggest that high parental EE at baseline does not indicate that adolescent patients with AN will fare poorly 4 years later.
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