SynthesisEating and weight disorders : EWD2022
Alliance matters: but how much? A systematic review on therapeutic alliance and outcome in patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Synthesis in Eating and weight disorders : EWD, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Perceptions of health professionals in providing care for people with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.Cadernos de saude publica · 2023Pooled it
- Experiences of receiving and delivering a novel complex intervention for type 1 diabetes and disordered eating: Process evaluation of the Safe management of people with Type 1 diabetes and EAting Disorders studY (STEADY).Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association · 2026Article
- The influence of therapist actions, strategies and qualities on change processes in psychological therapies for eating disorders: grounded theory analysis.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Anorexia Nervosa Care: Comparing ChatGPT and Google Gemini.Nutrients · 2026Article
- "Invented medicine"? Alliance building in first encounters between clinicians and adolescents with anorexia nervosa: a qualitative study.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Development and evaluation of a web-based toolkit to inform mental health professionals about digital mental health interventions for eating disorders.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Therapeutic Alliance, Early Symptom Change, and Outcome Among In-Patients With Anorexia Nervosa.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- What factors do parents/caregivers think impact change in family therapy for anorexia nervosa?: a qualitative study.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- The Maudsley model of anorexia nervosa treatment for adolescents and emerging adults: A multi-centre cohort study.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2025Article
- Therapists' perspectives on the Maudsley model anorexia nervosa treatment for adolescents and young adults (MANTRa): A qualitative interview study.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2025Article
- Premature termination of eating disorder treatment - a qualitative study of therapist perspectives.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Optimising Psychosocial Interventions for People With Severe and Enduring Eating Disorders (SEED) Perspectives of Healthcare Professionals in Ireland: A Qualitative Study.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Article
- The Planned Alternating Pathways: a flexible protocol for working with anorexic and bulimic adolescents and their families.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Discovering a "sense of community": patient experiences of connection in intentionally remote eating disorder care.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
- A feasibility trial of olanzapine for young people with Anorexia Nervosa (OPEN): clinicians' perspectives.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
- Processes of change in family therapies for anorexia nervosa: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative data.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Review
- A systematic review on the role of therapist characteristics in the treatment of eating disorders.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2024Article
- Discordant conceptualisations of eating disorder recovery and their influence on the construct of terminality.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
- Clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and process evaluation of group schema therapy for eating disorders: study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- How young people perceive change to occur in family therapy for anorexia nervosa: a qualitative study.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePatients with eating disorders (ED) pose a high-risk group regarding relapse. The understanding of factors contributing to a better outcome is much-needed. Therapeutic alliance (TA) is one important, pantheoretical variable in the treatment process, which has shown to be connected with outcome. This review looks into a possible predictive effect of TA on outcome as well as related variables.
methodsA systematic review with pre-determined inclusion criteria following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted for studies published since 2014. Three previous reviews including studies up until 2014 were analyzed for studies matching our inclusion criteria. A total of 26 studies were included.
resultsThe results were heterogeneous between different patient groups. Regarding the predictive effect of TA, in adolescent samples, the TA of either the patients or their parents seems to impact outcome as well as completion. For adults, results are mixed, with a tendency to a greater impact of TA for anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, while some samples of adult bulimia nervosa (BN) patients did not find any relation between TA and outcome.
conclusionThe effect of TA on clinical outcome depends on the patient group. TA has a greater impact on adolescents, irrespective of diagnosis, and on adults with AN. The examined studies have different limitations which include small sample sizes and questionable study design. The examination of motivation as a potential influencing factor is recommended. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I, systematic review.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.