Psychoeducation for Parents of Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa as a Supportive Treatment Approach

Summary

This randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effectiveness of a structured four-week psychoeducation program for parents of adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN). The program aims to improve parental coping and improve adolescent treatment outcomes.

Seventy adolescents with AN (ages 11-19) and their parents will be recruited at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia. Families will be randomly assigned to either an intervention group, receiving immediate psychoeducation, or a waitlist control group, receiving the program after one month. The psychoeducation program consists of four weekly 90-minute sessions covering eating disorder characteristics, maintaining factors, strategies for normal eating, and approaches for supporting change.

Primary outcomes include change in adolescent body mass index (BMI) from baseline to post-intervention and three-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes include adolescent symptoms of eating disorders, anxiety, and depression, as well as parental anxiety, depression, stress, social support, and self-efficacy. The study will test whether early, structured parental involvement through psychoeducation improves both adolescent clinical outcomes and parental coping.

Conditions

• Eating Disorders
• Anorexia Nervosa

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Psychoeducation group

A structured, group-based psychoeducation program designed for parents of adolescents with anorexia nervosa. The intervention consists of four weekly sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, delivered in small groups (up to 7 families) at the Child Psychiatry Department, University Medical Centre Ljubljana. Each session follows a standardized structure. The session topics are: Understanding eating disorders; Maintaining factors in anorexia nervosa and strategies to address them; Establishing and supporting normal eating patterns, Promoting and sustaining change. The program is adapted from evidence-based approaches, including family-based treatment (FBT) and enhanced cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT-E), and is tailored to a psychoeducational group format for parents. The aim is to reduce parental distress, improve coping, and enhance adolescent treatment outcomes (BMI, eating disorder symptoms, anxiety, depression).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Ljubljana

  collaborator OTHER

• University Medical Centre Ljubljana

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jana Kodrič, PhD · Unit of Child Psychiatry, University Children's hospital, University Medical Centre Ljubljana

• Marija Anderluh, PhD · Unit of Child Psychiatry, University Children's hospital, University Medical Centre Ljubljana

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

11 Years

Max Age

19 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-10-01

Primary Completion

2027-12-01

Completion

2028-06-01

Countries

• Slovenia

Study Locations