Psychoeducational family intervention for people with eating disorders: Rationale and development

Introduction Family members of patients with EDs report high levels of burden, psychological distress and the need to receive information on the disease of their ill relative. There is the need to provide family members and patients with psychoeducational family intervention in order to satisfy their care needs. Objective To develop a new psychoeducational approach for patients with Eating Disorders (EDs) and their relatives according to the Falloon model. Aims (1) To develop a family psychoeducational intervention for patients with EDs. (2) To implement the experimental intervention in the clinical routine care. (3) To evaluate efficacy of the approach in terms of reduction of family burden and improvement of relatives’ coping strategies. Results The Department of Psychiatry of the University of Naples SUN has developed a new psychoeducational family intervention for patients with EDs and their family members. The intervention consists of 6 sessions, scheduled weekly. The sessions deal with several topics such as information on EDs (e.g., causes, symptoms, clinical characteristics), communication skills (e.g., how to express an unpleasant feeling) and problem solving skills. The intervention is led by trained mental health professionals, such as psychiatrists, psychologists or rehabilitation technicians. Discussion This is the first example of psychoeducational intervention for families of patients with EDs developing according to the Falloon approach. Conclusions Family intervention represents an essential tool to provide to patients with EDs and their family members in order to promote a global recovery.