Training Clinicians in Private Practice in Family-Based Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: Randomized Controlled Trial...

Area of Science:

• Clinical Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Healthcare Dissemination

Background:

• A significant gap exists between evidence-based treatments (EBTs) and clinical practice for mental disorders.
• Disseminating effective psychosocial treatments like family-based treatment (FBT) for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) is crucial.
• There is a need for scalable, cost-effective online training methods for clinicians in EBTs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare two online training formats for FBT in therapists treating adolescents with AN.
• To assess the feasibility and acceptability of the online training programs.
• To examine if training formats improve FBT fidelity, therapist self-efficacy, and patient outcomes.

Main Methods:

• 123 licensed therapists in private practice with no prior FBT training were randomized.
• Therapists received either a webinar lecture series or an interactive e-training on-demand (ET-FBT) program.
• Both groups received post-training clinical case consultation (CCC); patient early response rates were explored.

Main Results:

• Both online training formats achieved high completion rates (95%) and improved therapist fidelity, self-efficacy, and working alliance.
• The ET-FBT group showed significantly greater improvement in working alliance, but no other differences between groups.
• Post-training, early patient response rates doubled (16% to 34%) regardless of training format.

Conclusions:

• Online FBT training is feasible for private practice clinicians in two distinct formats.
• Both training approaches yielded significant improvements in therapist skills and patient outcomes.
• Future research should focus on optimizing CCC recruitment and implementation for enhanced training effectiveness.