NCT06528158

Speech Groups for Children Living with a Sibling Who Suffers from Anorexia Nervosa

Sibling Group for Children and Teenagers Living with a Sibling Who Suffers from Anorexia Nervosa: a Pilot Acceptability Study

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 24 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Toulouse · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 8 Years – 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex mental disease with a huge impact on the patient's siblings life and well-being. Based on literature, group interventions for siblings of children suffering from a chronic disease could provide an effective support. A few have been studied, and even fewer exist for siblings of children with AN.

Detailed description

AN has a significant impact on nuclear family (parents and siblings). An emerging literature highlights the need for a particular attention to siblings. Despite this evidence, research and clinical applications still lack in this area. Indeed, most of health services in AN offer support for patients, family, parents, but only few specific support for siblings, although positive outcomes of sibling group interventions were reported in other somatic and psychic disabilities. Noting the gap between the need and the lack of specific support, the study hypothesis is that the poor diffusion of these interventions in AN might result from a low acceptability. The study propose to explore acceptability to adapt and improve group intervention for siblings of children and teenagers receiving care for anorexia nervosa. The study is a mixed-method pilot study assessing the acceptability of a group intervention by including a maximum of 24 siblings of children suffering from AN, aged from 8 to 18, across three group sessions, each consisting of 4 meetings. All participants will be invited to fulfill two different auto-questionnaires about their quality of life (before and after group session) and the intervention's acceptability (after group session). Quantitative data will be complemented with qualitative data, collected from individual semi-structured interviews with a targeted sampling among group participants.

Conditions

• Anorexia Nervosa

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	sibling group	The group will be based on a systemic model and led by two child psychiatrists trained in family and multi-family therapy, who will not subsequently be involved in the data analysis. It will consist of 4 sessions of 1h30, spread over a period of 2 months, with a maximum of 8 participants per session. The first 3 sessions will be spaced 15 days apart, and the last session will take place 3 weeks apart from the third session. The characteristics of the group (frequency, duration, number of sessions and participants) were built on data from the literature as well as on clinical feedback from a first pilot group conducted in January and February 2024 on the Toulouse pediatric unit by the two therapists who will lead the groups during the study.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-01-02
• Primary completion: 2026-08-31
• Completion: 2026-08-31
• First posted: 2024-07-30
• Last updated: 2025-01-20

Locations

1 site across 1 country: France