An Evaluation of the MANTRA therapist rating scheme
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing therapists’ adherence and competence for treating Anorexia Nervosa (AN) with adults: Evaluation of the Maudsley Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA) therapist rating scheme.
IRAS ID
351621
Contact name
Ioanna Papatriantafyllou
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Canterbury Christ Church University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 10 days
Research summary
The Maudsley Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA) is one of three first-line National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended psychological therapies for anorexia nervosa (AN). It is an outpatient therapy based on a problem-specific treatment protocol and developed from a cognitive-interpersonal maintenance model for AN (Schmidt & Treasure, 2006; Treasure & Schmidt, 2013). Empirical studies have shown good clinical effectiveness and efficacy of the model in the treatment of AN in comparison with other treatments (Schmidt et al., 2012; Schmidt et al.,2015).
To evaluate therapist adherence in the Strong Without Anorexia Nervosa Randomised Clinal Trial (RCT), Andony et al. (2015) compared and differentiated the three treatment modalities under investigation: MANTRA, Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for eating disorders (CBT-E) and Specialist Supportive Clinical Management for AN (SSCM). As part of the project, they designed the Strong Without Anorexia Nervosa Psychotherapy Rating Scales (SWAN-PRS), including therapy-specific subscales for each psychological treatment with distinguished items between the allocated treatments. Subsequently, in a study of the quality of case formulation letters in MANTRA, Allen et al (2016) developed a MANTRA Case Formulation Rating Scheme (MANTRA-CFRS) for rating how well formulation letters adhered to the core content and style components of MANTRA.
Informed by and adapting the aforementioned rating scales, Karina Allen, Janet Treasure and Ulrike Schmidt (2022) in partnership with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and King's College London (KCL) designed a MANTRA Therapy Session Rating Scheme (MANTRA-TSRS) that can be used to assess and enhance therapist’s competence when delivering MANTRA. However, this scale has not yet been empirically evaluated and tested for its reliability and validity in assessing therapists’ competencies in the MANTRA model.REC name
West of Scotland REC 1
REC reference
25/WS/0011
Date of REC Opinion
20 Mar 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion