Qualitative study: Sibling Experiences of Eating Disorder Intervention
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative study exploring sibling experience of an intervention for siblings of a young person with a restrictive eating disorder
IRAS ID
340242
Contact name
Julian Baudinet
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 5 days
Research summary
Siblings of young people with eating disorders (ED) have reported higher rates of depression, strained sibling relationships (Latzer et al., 2015) and difficulty adjusting psychosocially, even after their sibling has recovered (van Lagenberg et al., 2016). Siblings of people with other mental illnesses may also be at increased risk of developing their own mental illnesses (Friedrich et al., 2008; Jayasinghe et al., 2023). Despite this, Maon et al. (2020) asserted that interventions to address the unmet needs of this potentially vulnerable group are almost absent from the literature.
Family Based Therapy (FBT) and Family Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa (FT-AN) both reference the role of siblings (Lock le Grange., 2015; Eisler et al., 2016), but siblings are rarely included in treatment (Hughes et al., 2018). MCCAED has offered a sibling intervention since 2022 designed to address themes generated in a qualitative study on the experience of having a sibling with a restrictive ED completed by their team (Hutchinson et al., 2020). Brief qualitative and quantitative feedback suggested that most siblings found this intervention helpful, increased their understanding of anorexia nervosa and would attend again. However, siblings’ experience of this intervention for this potentially at-risk group and their role in treatment requires further exploration.
The study aims to explore the experiences of siblings of a young person with a restrictive ED attending this novel sibling intervention. The study has two main research questions:
1. What are the experiences of an intervention for siblings of a young person with a restrictive ED that aims to increase understanding of the illness and promote perceived support and coping?
2. What are siblings’ experiences of their role in treatment?This will be explored qualitatively by interviewing participants about their experience after receiving the sibling intervention. Data will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006; 2020).
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SC/0159
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion