Ata Ghaderi

Karolinska Institutet | KI · Department of Clinical Neuroscience

Family therapy for eating disorders (ED) is well-established and represents the treatment choice for ED in children and adolescents according to guidelines, with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) as a second line treatment. There is limited knowledge about how these treatments work in routine clinical care. The goal of the present meta-analysis is t...

There are over 40 million displaced children and youth worldwide and there is a need promote their mental wellbeing. This study aimed to synthesize evidence regarding promotion interventions to increase wellbeing, resilience, and quality of life (primary outcomes), and prevention interventions to reduce internalizing and externalizing symptoms (sec...

Introduction: In an uncontrolled study, we previously demonstrated the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of our virtual diabetes-specific version (Diabetes Body Project) of the eating disorder (ED) prevention program the Body Project. The aim of the current study was to evaluate further this program for women with type 1 diabetes (T1D) by asses...

The random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) is an extension of the traditional cross-lagged panel model. In RI-CLPM, prospective effects are estimated within rather than between individuals. In the present simulations, we found that RI-CLPM is susceptible to spurious findings when observed scores on the two variables are affected by com...

Objective Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a recommended treatment for eating disorders (ED) in adults given its evidence, mainly based on efficacy studies. However, little is known about how CBT works in routine clinical care. The goal of the present meta‐analysis is to investigate how CBT works for various ED when carried out in routine clinic...

Background Eating disorders (EDs) are a group of mental illnesses associated with significant psychological and physiological consequences. Overall, only about one-fifth of individuals with EDs receive treatment and treatment is effective for only about one-third for those who receive care. The development and implementation of effective prevention...

Objective: To determine the cost-effectiveness of a virtual version of the Body Project (vBP), a cognitive dissonance-based program, to prevent eating disorders (ED) among young women with a subjective sense of body dissatisfaction in the Swedish context. Method: A decision tree combined with a Markov model was developed to estimate the cost-eff...

Background: Millions of children are victims of child abuse world-wide. Consequences include long-term health impacts and large societal costs. Parent training is promising to prevent abuse, but challenges with motivation and attrition must be overcome to reach parents in need. Objective: To assess the effectiveness and acceptability of Safer Ki...

Both self-harm and suicidal behaviors have been targeted through school-based prevention programs, many of which have been developed in the United States. The aims of this systematic review were to assess effects of school-based prevention programs on suicide and self-harm and to evaluate whether they are fit to the exporting culture. The review fo...

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has received strong research support for anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. However, less is known about how CBT performs when delivered in routine clinical care. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted of CBT for these anx...

Although different cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) have strong research support for treatment of adult post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) more knowledge is needed about the performance of CBT in routine clinical care. The present study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of CBT for PTSD in adults treated in routine clinical care. Ovid...

This Special Issue of Nutrients on “Eating disorders and nutritional beliefs, trends or practices” contains ten empirical papers that cover various aspects of the topic [...]

Background: This study tested whether the dissonance-based Body Project eating disorder prevention program reduced onset of subthreshold/threshold anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED), and purging disorder (PD) over long-term follow-up. Methods: Data were combined from three prevention trials that targeted you...

To push research and treatment in the field of eating disorders (EDs) forward, we need to not only systematically develop our current knowledge and skills through established procedures for research and clinical practice, but also make room for disruptive innovations and thinking out of the box. The paper by Schleider et al. (2023, International Jo...

S. (2023). Swedish parents' satisfaction and experience of facilitators and barriers with Family Checkup: A mixed methods study. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. Family Checkup (FCU) was introduced in Sweden more than a decade ago. Little is known about what parents experience as FCU's key mechanisms leading to changes in parenting. The aim of t...

Background: Different cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) have strong research support for treatment of adult depressive disorders (DD). Given the scarcity of knowledge about the performance of CBT in routine clinical care, a systematic review and meta-analysis of CBT for adults with DD treated in this context was conducted. Methods: Published...

Background There is a paucity of research on therapist competence development following extensive training in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). In addition, metacognitive ability (the knowledge and regulation of one’s cognitive processes) has been associated with learning in various domains but its role in learning CBT is unknown. Aims To inves...

Access to interventions that effectively reduce stress is limited and often costly. Lack of time, and stigma might also be significant barriers. This study examined the effectiveness of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based self-help book without therapist support for adults with moderate levels of stress, without psychiatric diagnoses....

In an anonymous online study (N = 824), we investigated the frequency of use of appearance and performance-enhancing drugs and supplements (APEDS) in a sample of young men (15–30 years) in Sweden, along with their self-reported eating disorder (ED) symptoms, drive for muscularity and sexual orientation. A total of 129 participants (16.1%) reported...

Each year, millions of people worldwide are forced to leave their homes. Many of those affected are families. There are already a considerable number of initiatives designed to support refugees who are resettling in new countries and cultures. However, few are promotive interventions aiming to support parents and thereby their children through the...

Offspring of parents with anxiety disorders have an increased risk of developing anxiety themselves. Very few studies have evaluated interventions aiming to prevent anxiety in offspring of anxious parents. This study was a small (N=40) randomized pilot study with three arms evaluating the feasibility of a novel parent support group for anxious pare...

We investigated whether brief non-judgmental focus on the details of one’s non-dominant hand might lead to changes in perception of its size, and if such a change would be related to central coherence, body dissatisfaction, or how much participants liked their hand. After two pilot experiments (N = 28 and N = 30 respectively: Appendix 1), a within-...

Psychiatric conditions in general, including eating disorders, are stigmatizing conditions. The stigma of eating disorders is even more pronounced among males. We conducted an anonymous, online survey to explore the feasibility of recruiting participants for collecting sensitive information, and the relation among eating disorders, drive for muscul...

Background Brief, innovative, mechanistically-driven psychological treatments for body dissatisfaction are needed. We aimed to explore the occurrence of body-related mental images among females reporting a subjective sense of body dissatisfaction (study 1), and to investigate the potential efficacy of a single session of imagery rescripting (ImRS)...

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has strong research support for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, less is known about how CBT performs when delivered in routine clinical care. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of CBT for OCD in adults treated in routine clinical care. Ovid MEDLINE, Embase OVID, and PsycINFO were sys...

Background Eating disorders (ED) are severe psychiatric conditions, characterized by decreased quality of life and high mortality. However, only a minority of patients with ED seek care and very few receive treatment. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) has the potential to increase access to evidence-based treatments. Aims The...

As evaluation of practitioners’ competence is largely based on self-report, accuracy in practitioners’ self-assessment is essential for ensuring high quality treatment-delivery. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between independent observers’ ratings and practitioners’ self-reported treatment integrity ratings of Motivational int...

Purpose To explore the experiences of nurses and coordinators in the PRIMROSE childhood obesity prevention trial, and to understand the factors that might help to improve the outcome of future primary prevention of obesity. Methods Using a qualitative approach, data were obtained by interviewing nine intervention nurses and three regional study co...

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and other disabilities report high levels of distress, but systematically evaluated interventions are few. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a novel, manualized Acceptance and Commitment Therapy group intervention ( Navigator ACT ) in a sample of 94 parents of children with disabilitie...

Objective: The objective was to (i) assess the long-term cost-effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a workplace dialog intervention (WDI), and ACT+WDI compared to treatment as usual (TAU) for common mental disorders and (ii) investigate any differences in cost-effectiveness between diagnostic groups. Methods: An economic eval...

Introduction Little is known about how early (eg, commencing antenatally or in the first 12 months after birth) obesity prevention interventions seek to change behaviour and which components are or are not effective. This study aims to (1) characterise early obesity prevention interventions in terms of target behaviours, delivery features and behav...

Introduction: Behavioural interventions in early life appear to show some effect in reducing childhood overweight and obesity. However, uncertainty remains regarding their overall effectiveness, and whether effectiveness differs among key subgroups. These evidence gaps have prompted an increase in very early childhood obesity prevention trials wor...

Background: The present study aimed to test a model of perfectionism investigating parenting style, early maladaptive schemas and sensitivity to reinforcement theory. Methods: A general population sample (n=384), and a clinical sample consisting of individuals with major depressive disorder (n=40), social anxiety disorder (n=35), obsessive compulsi...

This study aimed to investigate whether individuals with eating disorders (ED; N = 857) could be empirically classified into qualitatively distinct subgroups based on their emotion dysregulation profiles. A series of increasingly complex models (factor analysis; FA, latent class analysis; LCA, and factor mixture models; FMM) were evaluated to deter...

Background The majority of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) patients are not sufficiently physically active post-surgery, yet little support from the Swedish healthcare system is offered. We investigated if a dissonance-based group intervention, aiming to increase health-related quality of life after surgery, had any effect on patients’ physical act...

Background Parental self-efficacy (PSE) has been suggested as a key factor for enabling parents to support children in the development of healthy dietary and physical activity behaviors and to prevent childhood obesity. However, studies of intervention effects on PSE are lacking. The present study involved a secondary analysis of data on PSE collec...

Negowetti et al. (2021) have provided insightful perspectives on the public health implications of the labeling of “clean” dietary products in the United States through a scoping review, along with feasible strategies to counteract the risks of this trend. Although the European Union has already fairly strict regulations about declaration of ingred...

Background A substantial proportion of patients receiving cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) do not achieve remission, and drop-out is considerable. Motivational interviewing (MI) may influence non-response and drop-out. Previous research shows that MI as a pre-treatment to CBT produces moderate effects compared with CBT alone. Studies integrating...

Background Self-harming behaviors in adolescents cause great suffering and can lead to considerable costs to the healthcare system. The aim of the current study was to investigate the cost of an integrated individual and family therapy (Intensive Contextual Treatment: ICT) and to compare the adolescent’s healthcare consumption 1 year before and 1 y...

Objective This study aimed to develop a virtual diabetes-specific version of the eating disorder (ED) prevention program the Body Project, and to assess feasibility and preliminary efficacy of this program for young females with type 1 diabetes. Method Young females with type 1 diabetes aged 16–35 years were invited to participate in the study. A...

Frequent assessment of eating disorder (ED) symptoms (e.g., on a weekly basis) may guide treatment planning in clinical services, and be an invaluable tool for improving clinical research. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a brief eight‐item scale designed to assess ED behaviors during the preceding week (E...

Background and objectives No treatment for adult anorexia nervosa (AN) has shown sufficient effectiveness or superiority to other treatments. Overcontrol has been suggested as a viable mechanism to target in the treatment of patients with AN. Radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT) is developed for disorders related to maladaptive over...

Background Personality has been suggested to be an important factor in understanding onset, maintenance, and recovery from eating disorders (ED). The objective of the current study was to evaluate personality style in different ED diagnostic groups as classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition (DSM-5). M...

Background Recovery rates after psychological treatments for anorexia nervosa are low to moderate, and in adults, no treatment outperforms any other. The aim of this study was to evaluate patient experiences of Radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT), a treatment developed for disorders related to maladaptive overcontrol. Methods Elev...

The Ego Resilience scale (ER) and The Ego Undercontrol scale (EUC) are designed to assess personality types based on how people inhibit or express their emotional impulses. The study aim was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of both scales. Two community samples were recruited through convenience sampling and were infor...

Background Studies in Western cultures have shown that perfectionism is conceptualized by two-factor higher-order model including perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns. However, little is known about the construct of perfectionism in Eastern societies. Thus, we examined the two-factor higher-order model of perfectionism in Iranian...

Background: Self-harm is a major public healh concern and it is particularly prevalent among adolescents. The functions of self-harm are diverse, but can be devided into interpersonal and intrapersonal. Linehan’s Biosocial Theory suggests that there is a transaction between the indivduals’ emotional vulnurablity and an invalidating environment, whi...

Objective To assess skills in Motivational interviewing (MI) at the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS), and to evaluate different ways to provide MI supervision. Methods SiS practitioners (n = 134) were randomized to regular group supervision, or individual telephone supervision based on only the behavioral component of a feedback...

Objective: To explore whether children with various externalizing/prosocial behavior profiles benefit differently from face-to-face training than from an internet-based parent management training (PMT) programme. Methods: A total of 231 families with children (aged 10 to 13 years) with externalizing behavior problems (EBP) were randomized to rec...

Introduction Behavioural interventions in early life appear to show some effect in reducing childhood overweight and obesity. However, uncertainty remains regarding their overall effectiveness, and whether effectiveness differs among key subgroups. These evidence gaps have prompted an increase in very early childhood obesity prevention trials world...

Introduction Little is known about how early (e.g., commencing antenatally or in the first 12 months after birth) obesity prevention interventions seek to change behaviour and which components are or are not effective. This study aims to 1) characterise early obesity prevention interventions in terms of target behaviours, delivery features, and beh...

Background Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe disorder, for which genetic evidence suggests psychiatric as well as metabolic origins. AN has high somatic and psychiatric comorbidities, broad impact on quality of life, and elevated mortality. Risk factor studies of AN have focused on differences between acutely ill and recovered individuals. Such com...

The main aim of this project was to explore the efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based educational course in different formats (i.e., pure and guided self-help with different durations, and guided self-help with and without access to a discussion forum) for body shape dissatisfaction. Two randomized controlled studies (RCT) were...

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of Body Project groups delivered virtually (vBP) by peer educators for prevention of eating disorders. Method: In a randomized controlled trial vBP groups (N = 149) were compared with a placebo (expressive writing, EW: N = 148) over 24-month follow-up and to a waitlist control condition (N = 146) over...

Background There is no published evidence about the psychometric properties of the Cognitive Behavioral Avoidance Scale (CBAS) in Eastern cultures. Aims The current research evaluated the psychometric properties of a Persian version of the CBAS. Method The research consisted of two studies. In Study 1, a university student sample ( n = 702) compl...

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widespread tool for assessing behavior problems in children and adolescents. Despite being investigated thoroughly concerning both validity and reliability, peer reviewed studies that provide norms, especially for preschool children, are lacking. This paper provides Swedish norms using data fr...

Background The effects of the use of objective feedback in supervision on the supervisory relationship and skill acquisition is unknown. Aims The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of two different types of objective feedback provided during supervision in motivational interviewing (MI) on: (a) the supervisory relationship, includ...

Adolescents with externalizing behaviors are at risk for multiple social and health impairments that may persist into adulthood. Although empirically supported treatments are available for teenagers with severe externalizing behavior and their families, only a few parenting programs have been evaluated for adolescents with subclinical levels of beh...

Purpose Common mental disorders (CMDs) and musculoskeletal disorders are highly prevalent in the population and cause significant distress and disability, and high costs to society. The main objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the outcome and comparative effectiveness of psychological interventions in reducing sickn...

Theories of maladaptive anxiety in children have suggested different developmental trajectories across age. Weems (2008) suggested that one subgroup of children demonstrates high and stable levels of broad anxiety, but shifting levels of dimension-specific symptoms in part due to related normative challenges. In a prospective longitudinal design, t...

Purpose: Despite positive health advantages of post-surgery physical activity (PA) for bariatric surgery patients, the majority is not sufficiently physically active. The aim was to explore women’s perceptions and experiences concerning PA five years after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) surgery. Methods: Eleven women were interviewed five years po...

Background To investigate the outcome of an integrated individual and family therapy (Intensive Contextual Treatment: ICT) in terms of reducing suffering and increasing functional adjustment among self-harming and/or suicidal adolescents with high symptom loads and their families. Methods Forty-nine self-harming and/or suicidal adolescents, Mage =...

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to look at longitudinal changes in children's self-concept, body-esteem, and eating attitudes before and 4 years after maternal RYGB surgery. Methods: Sixty-nine women and 81 appurtenant children were recruited from RYGB waiting lists at 5 hospitals in Sweden. Families were visited at home pre-surge...

We investigated the effectiveness of the Family Check-Up (FCU) and an Internet-based parent-training program (iComet), along with moderators and mediators of outcome. Families (N = 231) with a child with conduct problems were randomized to one of the conditions for 10 weeks of treatment. The drop-out rate was significantly higher in the iComet (39%...

Using a randomized placebo controlled design, we examined the direct and follow-up effects (at 6 and 12 months) of a mathematics tablet intervention. Math training focused primarily on basic arithmetic (addition and subtraction facts up to 12), and secondarily on number knowledge and word problems. We investigated the moderating effects of IQ and s...

Tablets can be used to facilitate systematic testing of academic skills. Yet, when using validated paper tests on tablet, comparability between the mediums must be established. Comparability between a tablet and a paper version of a basic math skills test (HRT: Heidelberger Rechen Test 1–4) was investigated. Five samples with second and third grade...

Objective To systematically review the efficacy of psychological, pharmacological, and combined treatments for binge eating disorder (BED). Method Systematic search and meta-analysis. Results We found 45 unique studies with low/medium risk of bias, and moderate support for the efficacy of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and CBT guided self-help...

Detailed information of the search strategy for the review. Cochrane Library via Wiley 02 November 2015 (CDSR, DARE & CENTRAL). Updated search on November 2016. Title: Treatment of binge eating disorder.

List of all of the excluded studies.

The literature provides several examples of anxiety symptoms questionnaires for children. However, these questionnaires generally contain many items, and might not be ideal for screening in large populations, or repeated testing in clinical settings. The Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is an extensively used and evaluated 44-item questionnai...