Mentorship Support as an Adjunct to Standard FBT
While FBT is regarded as the ‘gold standard treatment’ for anorexia
nervosa, there is a continued need for testing further improvements to
the approach, given that over half of those who undergo FBT do not show
remission by end of the treatment course (Lock, 2018). A number of
studies have been conducted looking at the benefits and challenges of
providing an individual with a ‘lived experience’ mentor, defined as one
who has a shared struggle and has since recovered. Mentorship programs
have been shown to improve quality of life and decrease psychiatric
symptoms in other health conditions (Pitt et al., 2013). When looking
specifically at mentorship in eating disorders, reported benefits to
mentees include feelings of belonging, comfort, hope, connection and a
unique sense of support due to the mentor’s lived experience. One study
examined the influence of parent to parent support on outcomes of FBT
for anorexia nervosa by randomizing 20 families to receive either
standard FBT or FBT with the addition of parent consultation. The rate
of weight restoration was found to be higher in the group receiving
parent to parent support (Rhodes, 2008). More recently, adjunctive peer
mentorship has been shown to reduce mentees’ symptoms of anxiety,
depression and body dissatisfaction, and to improve engagement in
treatment (Ranzenhofer et al., 2020).