Understanding dropout and non-participation in follow-up evaluation for the benefit of patients and research: evidence from a longitudinal observational study on patients with eating disorders

ABSTRACT

Treatment outcomes in eating disorders (EDs) are still an open field for clinicians and researchers. Besides difficulties in egosyntonic-linked treatment engagements, dropout is one of the most crucial elements that cause a reduction in the treatment efficacy. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate factors that could contribute to high dropout rates and non-participation in follow-up evaluation in patients with ED. This study used a large sample of patients from a specialized ED ward and day hospital (DH). A sample of 428 individuals was recruited for this study. Psychological and demographic data were collected at the time of hospitalization and discharge from the facilities. These data were used to explore a possible link between dropout and follow-up non-participation. Specially, the random forest was used to rank demographic and psychological features in importance and evaluate the top results with regression analyses for statistical significance. A dropout rate of 12.14% during inpatient and DH treatment was found. Anger-hostility and general psychopathology were found to be predictors of dropout during treatment, while the duration of the hospitalization predicted non-participation at the six-month follow-up. Specific psychological features should be considered before and during treatments for patients with EDs to reduce dropout rates. The duration of the hospitalization should also be evaluated as a relevant healthcare element that could affect engagement and, accordingly, outcome.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Patrizia Todisco, Federica Tozzi; Methodology: Patrizia Todisco, Federica Tozzi; Formal analysis and investigation: Alice Garolla, Athos Antoniades, Paris Vogazianos, Eva Diomidous; Writing - original draft preparation: Patrizia Todisco, Paolo Meneguzzo; Writing - review and editing: Patrizia Todisco, Federica Tozzi; Resources: Alice Garolla, Athos Antoniades, Paris Vogazianos; Supervision: Patrizia Todisco.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee for Clinical Practice of Vicenza.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10640266.2022.2135738

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.