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. 2021 Sep;29(5):770-782.
doi: 10.1002/erv.2848. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Cognitive remediation therapy for anorexia nervosa as a rolling group intervention: Data from a longitudinal study in an eating disorders specialized inpatient unit

Paolo Meneguzzo  1   2 , Elena Tenconi  1   3 , Patrizia Todisco  2 , Angela Favaro  1   3
Affiliations

Cognitive remediation therapy for anorexia nervosa as a rolling group intervention: Data from a longitudinal study in an eating disorders specialized inpatient unit

Paolo Meneguzzo et al. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) has been proposed as an add-on treatment approach that could increase the engagement in treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN) patients and reduce maintaining factors, but prior studies have evaluated CRT in individual and group settings, difficult protocols for rehabilitation settings. Our aim is to evaluate the CRT rolling protocol implementation in an inpatient specialised unit.

Methods: A historical longitudinal controlled study was designed to include 31 AN patients for the CRT program, and 28 AN patients treated as usual. The CRT rolling group was implemented in a multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation ward with both adolescent and adult patients and an 8-weeks protocol. To evaluate the treatment implementation effect, different self-administered questionnaires were used.

Results: The study found greater improvements of the CRT group in clinical symptomatology (p = 0.039), flexibility (p = 0.003), self-confidence about the ability to change (p < 0.001), and less short-term focus (p < 0.001), with no differences between restrictive and binge-purging patients.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that CRT rolling group protocol is feasible in an inpatient treatment setting and may improve a rehabilitation program's outcome. Our results have shown how CRT can influence cognitive styles considered AN maintenance factors, positively affecting both restrictive and binge-purge type.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa; cognitive remediation therapy; group therapy; inpatient treatment; rehabilitation.

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Conflict of interest statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The figure showed the mean of the total scores of the self‐report questionnaire included in the study. Differences between T0 and T1, dividing cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) and treatment as usual (TAU) groups, are reported. The statistical analysis showed significant differences between couples for all the scales, with the CRT group that reporting greater effect sizes than the TAU groups in all the questionnaires
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The figure shows mean scores on the cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) satisfaction questionnaire given after the last session. Patients were asked to quantify by a Likert scale (range 0‐4) how they found the group protocol enjoyable, useful, new skills enhancer, and advisable for others
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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