Consent to treatment in adolescents with anorexia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Turrell, Sheri L. ;Peterson-Badali, Michele ;Katzman, Debra K.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 84 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/eat.20870

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

This study examined the ability of adolescents with anorexia nervosa (an) to make treatment decisions.

Method:

The macarthur competence assessment tool-treatment (maccat-t) was used to compare the decision making abilities of 35 adolescents with an who were receiving inpatient treatment with that of 40 healthy, community-based adolescents. vignettes of both a medical and psychiatric illness were provided, requiring participants to work through the process of making a hypothetical treatment decision. the maccat-t was also administered to participants with an to examine decision-making about their own illness, which allowed for comparison of competencies across contexts.

Results:

Group differences were found, with the community group showing superior reasoning skills to the adolescents with an.

Discussion:

The results provide evidence to suggest that adolescents with an tend toward a thinking disposition that is concrete and lacking in abstract reasoning and reflection, which may negatively affect their ability to reason about treatment options.