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Outcomes of a Day Treatment Program for Eating Disorders Using Clinical and Statistical Significance

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Abstract

The present study was designed to evaluate the outcomes of a day treatment program for 55 eating disordered (ED) patients using clinical and statistical significance testing. Results indicated a statistically significant reduction on all eating disordered outcomes. With respect to clinical significance testing, analysis of these data indicated that the majority of the individuals in the day treatment program made clinically significant and reliable change by the termination of treatment on all eating disorder measures. However, considerably less patients improved to such a point that they were asymptomatic. The importance of combining clinical significance testing with traditional significance testing is discussed.

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Notes

  1. RCI Computational Formula for Individual Data (Jacobson and Truax 1991); \( {\text{RCI}} = x_{\text{pre}} - x_{\text{post}} /S_{\text{diff}} \) , \( S_{\text{diff}} = \left( {2({\text{SE}})^{2} } \right)^{ \, 1/2} ;\quad \quad {\text{SE = SD}}_{\text{pre}} (1 - r_{\text{ xx}} )^{1/2} . \)

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the clients and their therapists for participation in this study.

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Correspondence to Denise D. Ben-Porath.

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Ben-Porath, D.D., Wisniewski, L. & Warren, M. Outcomes of a Day Treatment Program for Eating Disorders Using Clinical and Statistical Significance. J Contemp Psychother 40, 115–123 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-009-9125-5

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