AUTHOR=Accurso Erin C. , Le Grange Daniel , Graham Andrea K. 

TITLE=Attitudes Toward Family-Based Treatment Impact Therapists’ Intent to Change Their Therapeutic Practice for Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00305

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00305

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p>Community-based clinicians who treat patients with eating disorders rarely use empirically-supported treatments, and research demonstrates that clinicians make significant modifications when implementing family-based treatment (FBT) for anorexia nervosa. This study examined clinician attitudes toward FBT and explored the extent to which attitudes predicted intent to shift practices following training in FBT. Clinicians (<italic>N</italic> = 129) completed a standardized training in FBT for AN, either a two-day introductory training (<italic>n</italic> = 99) or a one-day “advanced” training (<italic>n</italic> = 30). Linear regressions were used to examine the association between therapists’ attitudes toward FBT and their intent to use strategies consistent with FBT in the future, adjusting for pre-training use of strategies. Providers reported very positive attitudes toward evidence-based practices in general and moderately positive attitudes toward FBT. There were no significant differences between “novice” and “advanced” providers on attitudes toward evidence-based practices or FBT (<italic>p</italic>s &gt; .10). For the subset of providers attending their first training in FBT, more positive attitudes toward FBT significantly predicted greater intent to use FBT-consistent strategies (<italic>p</italic> = .004), and more positive attitudes toward evidence-based practice significantly predicted lesser intent to use FBT-inconsistent strategies (<italic>p</italic> = .009). This study suggests that both general attitudes toward evidence-based practice and specific attitudes toward FBT may impact implementation. Future research might examine whether a brief intervention to improve attitudes toward FBT might increase the likelihood of seeking expert consultation post-training.</p>