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NEDA TOOLKIT for Parents Questions to ask the care team at a facility Some of these questions pertain to particular eating disorders; some pertain to particular treatment settings; and some pertain to any eating disorder and all settings. What are the names, roles, titles, and contact information of those who will treat my family member? What other professionals will be involved in the treatment? What treatment plan do you recommend? Do you use current published clinical guidelines to guide treatment? If so, which guidelines? What’s your prognosis for the patient’s chance of a full recovery? How long might it take? How do you measure success? What specific goals will be set for the treatment plan? Is there any psychiatric diagnosis in addition to the eating disorder? How will it be treated? What physical/medical complications need ongoing treatment? What will the sequence of treatments be? Are there alternative or adjunct treatments you recommend? What benefits and risks are associated with the recommended treatments and alternatives? How can I best help my family member during treatment? What is my role within the treatment? How often will you talk to me about my family member’s progress? What if my family member doesn’t want to participate in therapy? What are your admissions criteria for residential, inpatient, partial hospital, intensive, and outpatient/inpatient care? How much weight gain should be expected in what time period for anorexia? What can I do to support my family member during a time of weight gain? Who should monitor refeeding and/or weight status? What procedures should we follow for weighing? How do family members determine whether purge behavior is occurring at home? What should we do if we notice this behavior? If my family member is being treated as an outpatient, how do you decide if more intensive intervention is needed? How often do team members communicate with each other? (Even if the team doesn’t talk to each other, you can serve as a liaison to relay information.) When do you begin discharge planning? Do you schedule and give the patient a specific follow-up appointment date/time at discharge? How do you follow up if the patient does not show up for a scheduled appointment? What are your criteria for determining whether and when a patient needs to be hospitalized? What happens in counseling sessions? Will there be individual and group sessions? Will there be family sessions? If I become very concerned about the patient, who can I call? How long does each counseling session last? How many will there be? How often will they happen? What contact can the patient have with family and friends through the course of treatment? What are we permitted to bring when visiting? What are we not permitted to bring? How will you help us prepare for the patient’s return home? What should we do and who should we contact in the event of a partial or complete relapse? What books, websites, or other sources of information would you recommend? Page | 61