Abstract
Despite initial data suggesting positive treatment outcomes for adolescent eating disorder day‐hospital programmes (DHPs), existing studies have included limited follow‐up, small samples, and a focus on restricting‐type eating disorders. To address these gaps, we explored naturalistic outcomes for an adolescent eating disorders DHP. Adolescent participants (N = 265) completed measurements at treatment admission, discharge (n = 170), and various lengths of follow‐up (n = 126; M
follow up = 278.87 days). Results from multilevel models indicated significant increases in body weight for the anorexia nervosa group throughout treatment and maintenance of increased body weight from discharge to follow‐up. In bulimic spectrum disorders, binge eating and purging significantly decreased from intake to discharge and did not change from discharge to follow‐up. Across the entire sample, eating disorder symptoms decreased from intake to discharge and did not change from discharge to follow‐up. Further, anxiety and depression decreased over the course of treatment and continued to decrease over the follow‐up period. The current investigation represents the first study to explore longitudinal DHP outcomes within adolescent bulimic spectrum eating disorders. Our findings also highlight many challenges inherent in conducting naturalistic research; it is critical that the field continue to develop solutions to the barriers inherent in conducting longitudinal research on eating disorder treatment.