TY - JOUR
T1 - Group-Based Compassion-Focused Therapy as an Adjunct to Outpatient Treatment for Eating Disorders
T2 - A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
AU - Kelly, Allison Catherine
AU - Wisniewski, Lucene
AU - Martin-Wagar, Caitlin
AU - Hoffman, Ellen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - The current study sought to assess the acceptability and feasibility of a compassion-focused therapy (CFT) group as an adjunct to evidence-based outpatient treatment for eating disorders, and to examine its preliminary efficacy relative to treatment as usual (TAU). Twenty-two outpatients with various types of eating disorders were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of TAU (n = 11) or TAU plus weekly CFT groups adapted for an eating disorder population (CFT + TAU; n = 11). Participants in both conditions completed measures of self-compassion, fears of compassion, shame and eating disorder pathology at baseline, week 4, week 8 and week 12. Additionally, participants receiving the CFT group completed measures assessing acceptability and feasibility of the group. Results indicated that the CFT group demonstrated strong acceptability; attendance was high and the group retained over 80% of participants. Participants rated the group positively and indicated they would be very likely to recommend it to peers with similar symptoms. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed that compared to the TAU condition, the CFT + TAU condition yielded greater improvements in self-compassion, fears of self-compassion, fears of receiving compassion, shame and eating disorder pathology over the 12 weeks. Results suggest that group-based CFT, offered in conjunction with evidence-based outpatient TAU for eating disorders, may be an acceptable, feasible and efficacious intervention. Furthermore, eating disorder patients appear to see benefit in, and observe gains from, working on the CFT goals of overcoming fears of compassion, developing more self-compassion and accessing more compassion from others.
AB - The current study sought to assess the acceptability and feasibility of a compassion-focused therapy (CFT) group as an adjunct to evidence-based outpatient treatment for eating disorders, and to examine its preliminary efficacy relative to treatment as usual (TAU). Twenty-two outpatients with various types of eating disorders were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of TAU (n = 11) or TAU plus weekly CFT groups adapted for an eating disorder population (CFT + TAU; n = 11). Participants in both conditions completed measures of self-compassion, fears of compassion, shame and eating disorder pathology at baseline, week 4, week 8 and week 12. Additionally, participants receiving the CFT group completed measures assessing acceptability and feasibility of the group. Results indicated that the CFT group demonstrated strong acceptability; attendance was high and the group retained over 80% of participants. Participants rated the group positively and indicated they would be very likely to recommend it to peers with similar symptoms. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed that compared to the TAU condition, the CFT + TAU condition yielded greater improvements in self-compassion, fears of self-compassion, fears of receiving compassion, shame and eating disorder pathology over the 12 weeks. Results suggest that group-based CFT, offered in conjunction with evidence-based outpatient TAU for eating disorders, may be an acceptable, feasible and efficacious intervention. Furthermore, eating disorder patients appear to see benefit in, and observe gains from, working on the CFT goals of overcoming fears of compassion, developing more self-compassion and accessing more compassion from others.
KW - Compassion-focused Therapy
KW - Eating Disorders
KW - Fear of Self-compassion
KW - Randomized Controlled Trial
KW - Self-compassion
KW - Shame
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84971385345&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/cpp.2018
DO - 10.1002/cpp.2018
M3 - Article
C2 - 27237928
AN - SCOPUS:84971385345
SN - 1063-3995
VL - 24
SP - 475
EP - 487
JO - Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
JF - Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
IS - 2
ER -