FOCUSED
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring social functioning and oxytocin treatment with parents and young people who have lived experience of eating disorders
IRAS ID
294230
Contact name
Dasha Nicholls
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The quality of adolescent interpersonal relationships is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders, and influences treatment response and outcome. In the clinical setting, adolescents with ED frequently present with impaired social functioning that is difficult to distinguish from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in acutely unwell young people. There are currently no comprehensive models of how interpersonal difficulties operate to trigger and maintain ED in children and young people, and a lack of knowledge about how people with lived experience of adolescent ED (LEAED) view social functioning both in relation to ED and as a therapeutic target. One potential new therapeutic tool is oxytocin, a naturally occurring hormone with a known role in mammalian bonding and social function. Oxytocin can be administered experimentally, and results suggest that it may ameliorate certain social difficulties, including in people with ASD. However, how oxytocin research might be perceived among those with LEAED and LEAED with co-occurring ASD is not known. This qualitative research will address these gaps in knowledge using focus groups comprising people with LEAED and their parents. The first focus group will comprise parents of adolescents with anorexia or bulimia nervosa and the second focus group will comprise adolescents with anorexia or bulimia nervosa with or without co-occurring ASD. The research aims to understand how people with LEAED view the role of social functioning in relation to the development and maintenance of ED in order to co-produce a model of social functioning and adolescent ED. The research also sets out to assess how acceptable and valuable new psychological/psychopharmacological interventions that target the social domain are to people with LEAED, in particular peer-support groups. Lastly, the research will assess what aspects of oxytocin research are acceptable/not acceptable to those with LEAED.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/LO/0495
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jul 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion