A Non-Randomized Comparison of the Addition of New Maudsley Model Workshops for Parents of Adult Women Receiving Multidisciplinary Care for Anorexia Nervosa

Sep 29, 2026

Objective: Evaluate how adding New Maudsley Model (NMM) training workshops for carers influences clinical outcomes in adults with anorexia nervosa receiving enhanced cognitive behavior therapy (CBT-E), which remains insufficiently studied. Females aged 18–35 were compared based on whether their parents agreed to attend NMM workshops or declined. Method: Psychopathology was assessed through 1-year follow-up; baseline differences used ANCOVA, and longitudinal changes used generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). Results: At admission, the NMM group showed higher ED psychopathology, body uneasiness, and alexithymia; at 1 year, both groups improved, with between-group effects favoring NMM.

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CategoryHealthcare

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International Journal of Eating Disorders ORIGINAL ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS A Non-Randomized Comparison of the Addition of New Maudsley Model Workshops for Parents of Adult Women Receiving Multidisciplinary Care for Anorexia Nervosa Cristiano Dani1 | Eleonora Rossi1 | Emanuele Cassioli1 | Valentina Zofia Cordasco1 | Alice Roscioli1 | Giulia Selvi1 | Livio Tarchi1 | Luca Zompa1 | Sandra Moretti1 | Maria Rita Troiani2 | Stefano Lucarelli2 | Valentina Cardi3,4 | Valdo Ricca1 | Giovanni Castellini1 1Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy | 2UFS Eating Disorders ASL Toscana Centro, Florence, Italy | 3Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy | 4Centre for Research in Eating and Weight Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK Correspondence: Giovanni Castellini ([giovanni.castellini@unifi.it](giovanni.castellini@unifi.it)) Received: 8 May 2025 | Revised: 6 October 2025 | Accepted: 7 October 2025 Action Editor: Tracey Wade Funding: This work was supported by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), project MNESYS (PE0000006) . Keywords: anorexia nervosa | carers | New Maudsley Model | outcome | parents ABSTRACT Objective: The impact of the add-on of New Maudsley Model (NMM) training workshops for carers of individuals with eating disorders (EDs) on clinical outcomes in adults with anorexia nervosa (AN) undergoing enhanced cognitive behavior therapy (CBT-E) remains unexplored. The outcomes of females with AN aged 18 and 35 years, treated with CBT-E, were compared between those whose parents agreed to attend NMM workshops and those whose parents declined participation. Method: Psychopathology was assessed up to 1-year follow-up. Baseline differences were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), while longitudinal changes were evaluated with generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) . Results: At admission, individuals in the NMM group had higher levels of ED psychopathology, body uneasiness, and alexithymia. At 1-year follow-up, both groups improved significantly, and between-group comparisons revealed significant effect sizes in favor of the NMM group. Discussion: Parental participation in NMM workshops was associated with more favorable treatment outcomes in adults with AN undergoing CBT-E. These findings suggest the potential relevance of integrating family participation into adult AN treatment. 1 | Introduction Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric disorder with abroad impact on mental and physical health (Larsen et al. 2024) . The high prevalence of psychiatric and organic comorbidities (Solmi et al. 2024), the chronic nature of the disease (KeskiRahkonen and Mustelin 2016), and the challenges in finding proper personalized treatment (Schmidt et al. 2025) contribute to the increased risk of hospitalization among individuals with AN (Castellini et al. 2023) . Moreover, eating disorders (EDs), including AN, typically emerge during childhood or early adulthood, with most cases developing before the age of 25 (Solmi et al. 2022). A prolonged duration of untreated illness could further exacerbate these risks, leading to worse clinical outcomes This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Eating Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2026; 59:179–189 179 [https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.24577](https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.24577) Summary • Adult individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) whose parents participated in New Maudsley Model (NMM) workshops exhibited greater baseline severity in eating disorder (ED) psychopathology, body uneasiness, and alexithymia compared

FAQs

What was the main objective of the study?

To determine whether adding New Maudsley Model training workshops for carers improves clinical outcomes in adults with anorexia nervosa receiving CBT-E.

How were participants grouped in the comparison?

Females aged 18–35 were compared based on whether their parents agreed to attend NMM workshops or declined participation.

What were the key findings after 1-year follow-up?

Both groups improved significantly, and between-group comparisons showed significant effect sizes favoring the NMM group, with more favorable outcomes associated with parental workshop participation.

Sep 29, 2026

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