Therapist Behaviours Interviews and Survey
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Helpful and Unhelpful Therapist Behaviours in Eating Disorder Psychotherapies: Interviews and Survey
IRAS ID
357647
Contact name
Jasmin Langdon-Daly
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bath
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 4 days
Research summary
Psychology therapy treatments for eating disorders are recommended as first line treatments by NICE. However, they are currently of limited effectiveness; only 30-50% of patients achieve a “good outcome”. Psychological therapies are an interactive process between therapist and patient. Research with people who have received these treatments has identified a number of ‘therapist factors’ which they describe as helpful or unhelpful. For example, having a therapist who sees a 'person' rather than just a diagnosis, therapist self-disclosure, expert knowledge and interpersonal warmth are helpful, while an overfocus on weight/ shape while ignoring other topics, and being critical or judgemental are unhelpful. This project aims to explore these factors in more detail, using interviews and surveys with people who have experienced psychological therapies for eating disorders to understand:
a) Specific things the therapist did/ said (behaviours) which demonstrated these factors
c) How this impacted on the emotional experience of the person in therapy
d) How this led to or blocked change and recovery.There are two parts to the study
A) Interviews with around 20 people to ask about the therapy they experienced and the outcome; the therapist’s behaviours in the relationship (things therapist said, did, and non-verbal signals/ gestures/ tone); their emotional response to these behaviours; and ways these behaviours supported or acted as barriers to change and recovery.
B: 30-40 people will complete an online survey. They will look at a list of possibly helpful and unhelpful therapist factors to answer the following questions:
-Did your therapist do this?
- Can you give examples of specific things your therapist said / did
- Did this have an impact on your recovery?
Data from the survey will be used to inform the future development of a therapist observation checklist /training tool which can be used to train and evaluate therapists.REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/SC/0207
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jun 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion