Temperament and Prediction of Dropout From Eating Disorder Treatment at Eating Recovery Center of Washington Partial Hospitalization Program

Abstract

This study explores the possibility of temperament and character predicting dropout from partial hospitalization program (PHP) eating disorder treatment at Eating Recovery Center of Washington (ERCWA) in Bellevue, Washington. The hypotheses for this research were (a) significant differences in temperament and character scores on harm avoidance (HA), persistence (P), novelty seeking (NS), and reward dependence (RD) would predict dropout in all eating disorder diagnosis (b) significant differences in persistence and harm avoidance would predict dropout in anorexia nervosa (AN) (c) significant differences in persistence and novelty seeking would predict dropout in bulimia nervosa (BN). Archival data of 15 male and 153 female participants aged 18-65 years diagnosed with an eating disorder receiving treatment at ERCWA adult PHP during 2014 and 2015 were used in this study. Dropout was defined as participants who dropped out of treatment utilizing the 72-hour notice Commitment to Recovery (Appendix D) or who left treatment against medical advice (AMA) or against clinical advice (ACA). A Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis was conducted to determine the probability of predicting treatment dropout considering the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-3 v1) dimensions. Results indicated increased cooperativeness is associated with increased likelihood of treatment dropout and increased reward dependence is associated with increased treatment completion. Assessing temperament and character traits may be a useful tool in predicting and reducing treatment dropout.