Factors Associated with Non-Completion of Compassion-Focused Therapy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Factors Associated with Treatment Non-Completion of a Compassion-Focused Therapy Eating Disorder Programme: A Mixed Methods Study
IRAS ID
169844
Contact name
Danielle Grey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leicestershire Partnership Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Not applicable , Not applicable
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Psychological interventions have been found to be an important part of eating disorder treatment. Despite growing evidence supporting the effectiveness of psychological therapies, high dropout rates suggest that service users experience difficulties completing treatment. Research has mainly focused on whether patient characteristics including age, severity of eating disorder and questionnaire outcomes provide an insight into the reasons for treatment non-completion. Even though there is growing recognition of the value of developing services to reflect the needs of service users (The Department of Health, 2004), few studies have adopted qualitative approaches to explored patient experiences and obstacles to treatment engagement.
The current research aims to identify factors associated with the treatment non-completion of a Compassion-Focused Therapy Eating Disorder Programme (CFT-E). Alongside identifying whether patient characteristics predict non-completion, the current research will explore barriers to engagement, and importantly, what supported service users to overcome these obstacles and successfully complete CFT-E.
The mixed methods research will involve establishing whether the patient characteristics and pre-programme questionnaire outcomes collated by a Specialist Eating Disorder Service predict non-completion. Additionally, service users currently receiving CFT-E treatment will be invited to a focus group. Those consenting to participate will reflect on their experiences of treatment, difficulties engaging in the programme, points where they may have struggled to attend sessions and what supported them to overcome these obstacles and complete CFT-E. The focus groups will be facilitated by the researcher and last approximately two hours.
Given the clinical and financial implications of treatment non-completion, the current research aims to extent the literature by exploring the factors associated with the non-completion from a Compassion-Focused Therapy Programme. The mixed methods research will provide an insight into how services can be developed to reflect the needs of eating disordered service users to support treatment completion.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0151
Date of REC Opinion
21 May 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion