Assessing the Impact on Patient Health of Attending a Day Treatment Programme for Eating Disorders
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200900003 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Pages | 12-19 |
| Published date | 15 May 2009 |
| Author | Emma Wolfe,Jane Ogden,Leigh Clare |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health Review Journal Volume 14 Issue 1 March 2009 © Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
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Emma Wolfe
Placement student, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, UK
Jane Ogden
Professor in Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, UK
Leigh Clare
Consultant Psychologist and Clinical Director, Lansdown Day Treatment Unit, Farnham, Surrey, UK
Assessing the Impact on Patient
Health of Attending a Day
Treatment Programme for
Eating Disorders
Abstract
A repeated measures cohort study was conducted to investigate the impact of attending a day treatment programme
on physical and psychological state, and to assess which baseline factors predicted level of recovery. Physical and
psychological outcomes of treatment were analysed for 116 patients admitted to the treatment programme between
1996 and 2006 and were found to be in line with previous day care evaluations, with the majority of patients showing
improvements on all measures. A multiple regression analysis revealed several factors to be predictive of treatment
outcomes including patient demographics, comorbidities and traumatic life events. In particular, those patients who
benefited most from the treatment had a lower body mass index at admission, stayed longer at the unit, were older,
less likely to have other physical and psychiatric comorbidities, particularly obsessive compulsive disorder or a
history of sexual abuse, and whose most predominant eating disorder problem was characterised by low weight.
Key words
Eating disorders, day care, recovery, predictors
A number of different types of treatments are
offered to people with eating disorders ranging from
inpatient units for the most severe, to intensive
outpatient treatment in the form of day treatment/
partial hospitalisation, to outpatient groups for
patients able to function in the community. This
study focused on day care treatment.
In a review of day programmes in England and
Germany, Zipfel et al (2002) reported that many
day programmes share a common multidisciplinary
approach utilising group treatments, with a focus
on promoting autonomy and independence.
However, they also found variability in the intensity
of care and criteria used for inclusion in the
treatment and argued that outcomes for specific
programmes should be scrutinised in order to draw
useful conclusions regarding recovery rates. Several
researchers have aimed to address this. For example,
Gerlinghoff et al (1998) evaluated the TCE day
programme in Munich, which reported significant
weight gain in anorectic patients, significant
reductions in binge eating in bulimic patients
and significant improvements in all 106 patients
studied on psychological, sexual and socio-economic
measures. Furthermore, Robinson (2003) reported
that, in preliminary analysis of the first 81 patients to
attend the Royal Free day hospital in the UK, patients
showed significant improvements in relation to
eating disorder symptoms, depression and body mass
index (BMI) with 62% of patients reaching a BMI of
17.5 or above.
Similarly, in an evaluation of a day unit in
Oxford, Peake et al (2005) reported significant
improvements in eating disordered behaviours,
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