Maintenance treatment for eating disorders following inpatient or day treatment: outcomes of intensive outpatient group and individual CBT treatments.

Relapse is a substantial problem in eating disorders. Until recently, there have been few investigations into maintenance treatments aimed at helping patients maintain improvements made in treatment. This study compared the outcomes of group-based intensive outpatient versus individual cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based maintenance treatments for eating disorders, following inpatient or day treatment. In this sequential cohort study, patients received the type of maintenance treatment (intensive outpatient group or individual CBT) available at the time. A total of 221 patients with eating disorders were included, and data were examined retrospectively. Cox regression was used to determine whether treatment type predicted rate of return to clinically significant symptoms over the 12 months following inpatient or day treatment. Intensive outpatient group versus individual CBT maintenance treatment did not predict differential rate or trajectory of return to clinically significant symptoms in diagnostic subgroups and the overall sample. Maintenance treatment type did not predict changes in weight/shape concerns between end-of-inpatient or day treatment) and 6- or 12-month follow-up (after controlling for diagnosis). Although the treatments appeared similarly effective in helping patients maintain gains made in intensive treatment, individual CBT may be a more time- and cost-efficient approach to delivering maintenance treatment.