EATING DISORDER TREATMENT 2.

EATING DISORDER TREATMENT 2.

Running head: EATING DISORDER TREATMENT 1.

EATING DISORDER TREATMENT 2.

EATING DISORDER TREATMENT 3.

Southern New Hampshire University

Research Methods

Abstract

The document will explain the key variables for the self-disclosure of the therapist, and eating disorder treatment. In addition, the text will focus on online research whereby participants will be recruited from an eating disorder charity databases.

Research question: “Does self-disclosure of the therapist improve eating disorder treatment.”

Hypothesis: Self-disclosure of the therapist improves eating disorder treatment.

The key variables for this research are self-disclosure of the therapist and eating disorder treatment. This research will focus on online research whereby participants will be recruited from an eating disorder charity database. The participants will be asked about the status of their condition and how they feel about having the disorder. The neutral condition will be that the therapists will disclose their sexuality and their feelings towards the patients’ conditions and personality (Marziliano, Pessin, Rosenfeld, & Breitbart, 2018).

The study will continue for two months with the therapists making contact with the participants once every week. These conditions will form independent variables. The dependent variable would be participants continued to receive positive self-disclosures from the therapist leading to a greater level of patient self-disclosure which lowered their shame, and encouraged the participants to continue with the treatment process. The participants will also be asked if they have been involved in any treatment before, and how they could describe their therapeutic alliance (Fuertes, Moore, & Ganley, 2018).

A longitudinal study and the rate of drop-out will be used to gather more information about the participants. The collected data will then be analyzed in relation to the independent variables by the end of the study. One of the ethical issues which will be looked into while conducting the study is informed consent. Participants will be informed about the purpose of the research and will have the right to participate or not participate in it. Secondly, the research will ensure the privacy and confidentiality of every participant.

Introduction

In today’s society, many individuals struggle with being accepted. Body image has been of great importance because it’s praised in the media. Knowing this, it is not surprising that many of the men and women of this time struggle with eating disorders. One thing that is a fact, is that we live in a media-saturated world, and there is nothing we can do to change that. However, many of our youths are being manipulated and feeling less of themselves, because they feel they cannot measure up to what is being displayed. Eating disorders impact all aspects of one’s life, and it is up to the professionals to aid these individuals to a healthier lifestyle.

According to eating disorders statistics estimated by the National Eating Disorder Association, in the USA up to 30 million people suffer from an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder (National Eating Disorder Association,2019). As a professional, it’s important to aid these individuals with the best care possible and to make sure that the confidentiality of the client is first.

Problem Statement:

One problem of concern would be how to determine whether self-disclosure of a therapist will improve eating disorder treatment. The research pertaining to the topic is of great importance and is extremely relevant in seeking to propose ways in which the eating disorder conditions can be treated. Clients who were diagnosed with an eating disorder, from prior experience has made it difficult for many therapists who treated these individuals. Many of these therapists have not been able to disclose this particular condition. If the therapists disclose the eating disorder by themselves, will the eating disorder treatment improve? The study, therefore, seeks to approve or disapprove the hypothesis that self-disclosure of the therapists improves eating disorder treatment.

Literature Review

For this research, I have found that the studies are contained in various peer-reviewed articles and various publications. These publications examine the issue of eating disorder conditions among therapists. While researching this study, various articles from the journal of psychotherapy will be implemented. Although many researchers have conducted studies related to the issue of eating disorder conditions among the therapists, they have not given satisfactory answers on the issue of self-disclosure among the therapists. The previous research studies showed that there are some merits and demerits of using the qualitative research design methodology.

The data of previous studies were collected mostly from primary sources. The data collection methods included: questionnaires, observations, and interviews. These methods were efficient and effective in data collection. According to (Tantillo, 2004) the individuals who have eating disorders may express their emotions. In particular, the lack of interest in food; women who are undergoing therapy may be very conscious and show signs of not wanting to take food. However, there are activities which may help to improve treatment on eating disorder conditions. Individuals may not be comfortable to share what they are going through. They may not feel the need to share with their close relatives or friends.

The types of disclosures and non-disclosures will also be determined. The article by (Kass & Wilfley, July 14, 2015) tried to highlight the issue of relational therapy. This is one of the ways to treat patients psychologically. This kind of therapy is used to treat the eating disorder; relational therapy applies the use of self-disclosure mechanism when treating the patients. Eating disorders conditions need intervention mechanisms which have evidence. Diagnosis is usually done in order to evaluate treatment; the techniques and methods used across patients with eating disorder conditions should vary. This is because their responses to treatment are different. The research will emphasize on relation therapy since it adopts self-disclosure means.

There are various ways in which adolescent who has eating disorder conditions may be treated. (Lock, 2010) highlights signs of progress and challenges when treating adolescents. The author also examines in detail the eating disorder condition among adolescents. The text will highlight the consequences of self-disclosure and the information from this study will help to approve the hypothesis of the research. There are many issues with regard to eating disorder conditions. (Natenshon, 2017) highlights the causes, preventive measures and the treatment of eating disorder conditions. This article offers rich knowledge of the subject of eating disorder conditions which will make this knowledge useful to the researcher.

(Simonds & Spokes 2017) examines the mechanism of therapeutic alliance as a way of monitoring and controlling eating disorder conditions. It’s important to develop a significant therapeutic alliance. This will help to improve the therapist’s condition. The study will examine the knowledge gap, which exists in relation to the therapeutic alliance and fills the existing gap. Clinicians have various experiences as they work in clinics which treat eating disorder conditions (Young, 2012). These are clinicians who have had the chance to work in eating disorder clinics. The patients in these clinics may have recovered from eating disorder conditions. The document will aid the researcher because it outlines the significance of self-disclosure as one way of treating eating disorder conditions.

There are some advantages and disadvantages associated with the qualitative research design. The data collected are reliable since it will involve gathering information directly from the respondents. This information will be extremely useful in answering the research question.

There are research errors associated with this particular design. There is a difficulty in discovering mechanisms of doing away with errors in research design and methodology. These errors are likely to have a great impact on the outcome of the research. Pilot testing needs to be conducted in order to find ways of handling the research errors which may arise. There is also an issue of the participants not answering questions correctly. Some clients may fear that the information they give will not be confidential. The design which will be appropriate for the study is the one which will answer the research question directly. Previous researchers have always gathered information from primary sources.

The study will examine whether self-disclosure has been effective in treating eating disorder conditions. The appropriateness of the research design will be determined, and the data will also be gathered using online surveys. The current and up to date information on the topic is very useful to the research. The review of previous studies are also significant; It will assist the researcher to know existing gaps, weaknesses, strengths and limitations of previous research.

Methods

Description of the participants I plan to use in my research study

The participants I plan to use in my research study are the graduate students from Southern New Hampshire University. The graduate students are the ones taking PSY 510 and PSY 520 as a course unit. The participants will be male and female graduate students. Their ages are expected to be between 25 and 47 years of age. 7 to 15 individuals will be asked to participate. Since the research will be conducted through an online system, the participants will be required to use a smartphone to take surveys. All research methods and approaches incorporate identification and description of research participants (Giles, 2013).

Description of the materials that will be used in the study and why they are most appropriate for my proposal

There are various materials which will be required in order for the research to be successful. The major material which will be used is the Qualtrics program. This is an online survey program; since my research will involve conducting research via an online platform, this material will be the most appropriate for my research proposal. This particular material will be given to the research participants. The Qualtrics online survey application is provided by Southern New Hampshire University. This program is designed for research purposes only.

Description of the procedures that will be used to collect data and how they will address my research question

There are various methods of collecting data (Englander, 2012). The research participants will be asked to read the introduction and history section of the survey before participating in the study. The introduction and history section of the survey entails the information regarding the consent of those willing to participate, and each person role along with the ability to mentally and psychically participate. After completing the introduction and history section of the survey, the participants will be asked questions so that they can fill out information regarding their demographics. The demographics include age, gender, level of education, and the field of work. The participants will then be asked the research question. The research question is Does self-disclosure of the therapist improves eating disorder treatment?

The participants will be asked regarding their status in relation to eating disorder conditions. In addition, participants will be asked to express their feelings with regard to having the eating disorder. The participants will be asked if they have ever disclosed their condition to any other persons, which could be a classmate, family member, close acquaintance, etc. These questions will assist me in addressing the research questions provided. The last procedure of collecting the data will be a kind of debriefing. This is a document which contains more detailed information of what each online survey entails. Ethical issues are also outlined briefly.

Discussion of any ethical concerns I can foresee with the study and steps that could be taken to remedy them

Any psychological research has to follow detailed ethics in order to avoid various ethical issues, which may arise in the process of conducting research (Knapp & VandeCreek, 2012). The participants of the research will be debriefed and informed on their consent in order to avoid some basic, and crucial ethical issues, which may affect the quality of research findings. However, there is a concern with the small number of research participants. This is just a reporting concern since it will not be appropriate if there is statistical importance for any real assumptions to be drawn other than the conclusions from an empirical research study.

There is an ethical issue concerning some demographic questions which will be asked. This ethical concern will be remedied by having options of choosing whether to answer or decline any of the demographic questions. This is a serious concern because most of the participants are in capacity peers. They may not be pursuing the same course but they are in the same university. It is therefore important to ensure that the confidentiality and privacy of the researchers be taken into consideration.

Explanation of the procedures I plan to use to prepare my raw data for analysis

There are various procedures that will be involved in the preparation of data for analysis. The first procedure is to determine the accuracy of responses from participants. The next procedure is to determine the valid number of surveys filled. The surveys which are incorrectly filled will be categorized as null and void. The appropriately filled surveys will then be coded, recorded and stored awaiting data analysis.

Analysis of Data

There are various methods and techniques of data analysis (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2011). After completion of data collection, the data will be recorded in form of codes. Names will not be used so as to address ethical concerns. The SPSS software program will be used to analyze the data. The key independent and dependent variables of the research are self-disclosure of the therapists and the improvement in eating disorder conditions. There are various statistical tests including t-tests which will be conducted in order to analyze collected data.

Descriptive statistics which involve obtaining mean, percentages, standard deviation variance, mode, frequency and presenting findings in forms of tables and findings will be used in data analysis. Running regression analysis will also be used when analyzing the data. The findings will also be presented in the form of graphs because they are useful in describing the results and outcomes of the survey. The range and average will be very significant in data analysis. They are also useful in determining whether there are outliers in the collected data. P-values and standard deviations will also be utilized during data analysis. Pearson’s correlation is another statistical technique which will be used in data analysis.

The most important statistics are the ones which determine the relationship which exists between self-disclosure of the therapists and improvement in eating disorder conditions. Dependent t-tests will be conducted between the two main variables of the research. These results will indicate a correlation between the self-disclosure of the therapists and improvement in eating disorder conditions. The results are expected to show a statistically significant relationship which exists between self-disclosure of the therapists and improvement in eating disorder conditions treatment. Hypothesis testing will also be done to either accept or reject the research hypothesis.

Prediction of my expected findings or anticipated results

The results of the research are expected to be statistically significant. The results will show that there is a significant direct relationship which exists between self-disclosure of the therapists and improvement in eating disorder treatment. The results will show that eating disorder patients who have disclosed their conditions have improved in terms of their treatment.

There will also be statistical tests which will be assessed between disclosure of conditions and improvement in treatment. The results will indicate the extent of the relationship which exists between the two variables of the research. The results will establish whether the two variables have or not have any significant relationship. The findings will be presented in a generalized form.

This will ensure that there is generalizability of the expected findings. The findings will also be interpreted in a careful manner. This will ensure that there are no ethical concerns which will mislead anybody with the anticipated results. The expected limitation which may have an effect on the anticipated results is the size of the sample. The sample size is very small; despite the limitations, the expected results are expected to be accurate and reliable. The results are expected to fill the knowledge gap which has existed in relation to self-disclosure and improvement in eating disorder treatments.

Reference

Englander, M. (2012). The interview: Data collection in descriptive phenomenological human scientific research. Journal of phenomenological psychology, 43(1), 13-35.

Giles, D. (2013). Advanced research methods in psychology. routledge.

Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.mirror-mirror.org/eating-disorders-statistics.htm

Knapp, S. J., & VandeCreek, L. D. (2012). Practical ethics for psychologists: A positive approach. American Psychological Association.

Leech, N. L., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2011). Beyond constant comparison qualitative data

Learn More About Eating Disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/analysis: Using NVivo. School Psychology Quarterly, 26(1), 70.

Reference

Fuertes, J. N., Moore, M., & Ganley, J. (2018). Therapists’ and clients’ ratings of real relationship, attachment, therapist self-disclosure, and treatment progress. Psychotherapy Research,

Kass, A., Kolko, R., & Wilfley, D. (July 14, 2015). Psychological Treatments for Eating Disorders. PMC.

Lock, J. (September 2010). Treatment of Adolescent Eating Disorders: Progress and Challenges. PMC, 51(3): 207–216.

Marziliano, A., Pessin, H., Rosenfeld, B., & Breitbart, W. (2018). Measuring Cohesion and Self-Disclosure in Psychotherapy Groups for Patients with Advanced Cancer: An Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of the Group Therapy Experience Scale. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy

Natenshon, A. (2017). Eating Disorders: A Treatment Apart. The Unique Use of the Therapist’s Self in the Treatment of Eating Disorders. DOI: 10.5772/65697.

Simonds, L. & Spokes, N. (2017). Therapist self-disclosue and the therapeutic alliance in the treatment of eating problems, Eating Disorders, 25:2, 151-164

Young, Melissa A. (2012). Eating Disorder Clinicians: From Personal Recovery to Supporting Others. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/10

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