Family functioning, distress and psychological wellbeing in the care of relatives of patients with eating disorders in a therapeutic residential setting.

The international scientific community affirms that there is a multifactorial causal model at the origin of EDs, according to which several factors (biological, psychological, cultural, genetic and environmental) concur in favouring the development of EDs. In particular, the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) rejects the hypothesis that factors of family origin constitute an exclusive or main pathogenetic mechanism. The AED also criticises any claim that parents are to blame for their children's distress (AED 2006).
The focus on the family is therefore increasingly geared towards considering the family unit as a resource in the therapeutic pathway, and not solely as a dysfunctional factor in maintaining the disorder. Scientific literature (Dare, Eisler 1997; Treasure e al. 2007; Treasure e al. 2008) also emphasises how, as part of an integrated multidisciplinary residential treatment pathway for ED patients, the formulation of an individualised therapeutic project also requires careful assessment of family characteristics and the personal problems of all its individual members. The aim of caring for families of ED patients is therefore to improve family functioning skills and individual psychological wellbeing.

The main aim of the research is to investigate the levels of family functioning, distress and psychological wellbeing in a group of relatives of patients with eating disorders at the Gruber Residence. A secondary objective of the research is to compare the levels of family functioning, psychological distress and psychological wellbeing of a group of relatives who participate in and complete the intake process (consisting of individual and group meetings) at the Gruber Residence with a group of relatives who only partially participate in this process.

• Elena Tomba, Psychologist Psychotherapist, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Bologna
• Michele Rugo, Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst, Medical Director of the Gruber Residence, Bologna
• Anna Franco, Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Psychology Area Coordinator, Gruber Residence, Bologna