The roles of autonomous motivation and self-compassion on changes in eating disorder pathology across inpatient eating disorder treatment.
6 affiliations
- 1The Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- 2Discipline of Psychology, School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
- 3enAble Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
- 4Fremantle Mental Health Service, Fremantle, WA, Australia.
- 5Danish Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Science (DRIVEN), Institut for Idræt Og Biomekanik, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Syddansk Universitet, Odense, Denmark. [email protected].
- 6School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. [email protected].
Abstract
Purpose
Autonomous motivation and self-compassion may potentially influence outcomes in eating disorder treatment. Self-compassion may reduce criticism and shame, which have been implicated in the maintenance of anorexia nervosa. This study examined whether baseline autonomous motivation and self-compassion, and their interaction, were associated with changes in eating disorder symptoms in women with anorexia nervosa receiving inpatient treatment.Methods
Participants were 56 women (M age = 23.8, range = 16-52 years) diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and admitted to an inpatient eating disorder programme. Eating disorder symptoms (Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire; EDE-Q), autonomous motivation (Autonomous and Controlled Motivation for Treatment Questionnaire; ACMTQ), and self-compassion (Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF) were measured at pre- and post-treatment.Results
Latent change score models indicated that higher baseline autonomous motivation was associated with greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms across treatment. Baseline self-compassion and the interaction between autonomous motivation and self-compassion were not associated with changes in eating disorder symptoms. Post hoc Monte Carlo simulations indicated that the models were adequately powered to detect effects of the observed magnitude.Conclusion
The findings are consistent with Self-Determination Theory in eating disorder populations and suggest that higher autonomous motivation is associated with greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms. Future research should examine whether interventions targeting autonomous motivation may be associated with improved treatment outcomes in women with anorexia nervosa.Level of evidence
Level III: Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case-control analytic studies.
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BibTeX
@article{batchelor2026roles,
title = {{The roles of autonomous motivation and self-compassion on changes in eating disorder pathology across inpatient eating disorder treatment.}},
author = {R Batchelor and K Morgan-Lowes and S J Egan and J Howell and C Thøgersen-Ntoumani},
journal = {Eating and weight disorders : EWD},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1007/s40519-026-01890-0},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897402},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The roles of autonomous motivation and self-compassion on changes in eating disorder pathology across inpatient eating disorder treatment.
AU - R Batchelor
AU - K Morgan-Lowes
AU - S J Egan
AU - J Howell
AU - C Thøgersen-Ntoumani
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - Eating and weight disorders : EWD
DO - 10.1007/s40519-026-01890-0
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897402
AB - Purpose Autonomous motivation and self-compassion may potentially influence outcomes in eating disorder treatment. Self-compassion may reduce criticism and shame, which have been implicated in the maintenance of anorexia nervosa. This study examined whether baseline autonomous motivation and self-compassion, and their interaction, were associated with changes in eating disorder symptoms in women with anorexia nervosa receiving inpatient treatment.Methods Participants were 56 women (M age = 23.8, range = 16-52 years) diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and admitted to an inpatient eating disorder programme. Eating disorder symptoms (Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire; EDE-Q), autonomous motivation (Autonomous and Controlled Motivation for Treatment Questionnaire; ACMTQ), and self-compassion (Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF) were measured at pre- and post-treatment.Results Latent change score models indicated that higher baseline autonomous motivation was associated with greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms across treatment. Baseline self-compassion and the interaction between autonomous motivation and self-compassion were not associated with changes in eating disorder symptoms. Post hoc Monte Carlo simulations indicated that the models were adequately powered to detect effects of the observed magnitude.Conclusion The findings are consistent with Self-Determination Theory in eating disorder populations and suggest that higher autonomous motivation is associated with greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms. Future research should examine whether interventions targeting autonomous motivation may be associated with improved treatment outcomes in women with anorexia nervosa.Level of evidence Level III: Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case-control analytic studies.
SN - 1124-4909
SN - 1590-1262
ER -