Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Experienced Carers Helping Others (ECHO): protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial to examine a psycho-educational intervention for adolescents with anorexia nervosa and their carers

Rhind, Charlotte, Hibbs, Rebecca, Goddard, Elizabeth, Schmidt, Ulrike, Micali, Nadia, Gowers, Simon, Beecham, Jennifer, Macdonald, Pamela, Todd, Gillian, Tchanturia, Kate, and others. (2014) Experienced Carers Helping Others (ECHO): protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial to examine a psycho-educational intervention for adolescents with anorexia nervosa and their carers. European Eating Disorders Review, 22 (4). pp. 267-277. (doi:10.1002/erv.2298) (KAR id:41633)

Abstract

Experienced Carers Helping Others (ECHO) is an intervention for carers of people with eating disorders. This paper describes the theoretical background and protocol of a pilot multicentre randomised controlled trial that will explore the use of two variants of ECHO for improving outcomes for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) referred for outpatient care. Adolescent patients and their carers (typically parents and close others in a supportive role) will be recruited from 38 eating disorder outpatient services across the UK. Carers will be randomly allocated to receive ‘ECHOc’ guided self-help (in addition to treatment as usual), ‘ECHO’ self-help only (in addition to treatment as usual) or treatment as usual only. Primary outcomes are a summary measure of the Short Evaluation of Eating Disorders at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Secondary outcomes are general psychiatric morbidity of AN patients and carer, carers' coping and behaviour, and change in healthcare use and costs at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Therapist effects will be examined, and process evaluation of ECHOc will be completed. The findings from this pilot trial will be used in preparation for executing a definitive trial to determine the impact of the preferred variant of ECHO to improve treatment outcomes for AN.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1002/erv.2298
Uncontrolled keywords: carers, anorexia nervosa, adolescents, clinical psychology
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Personal Social Services Research Unit
Depositing User: R. Bass
Date Deposited: 30 Jun 2014 15:11 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2022 03:17 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/41633 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.