Scientist-practitioner family therapists, postmodern medical practitioners and expert parents: Second-order change in the eating disorders program at the children's hospital at Westmead

The Maudsley model of family-based treatment for anorexia integrates a variety of schools of family therapy, and has been developed and supported by a number of randomized controlled trials. In this paper we will describe the systemic organizational changes that have occurred as a result of the inclusion of this model in the Eating Disorders Program at The Children's Hospital at Westmead over an eighteen-month period, including a process of mutual influence between medical practitioners and family therapists. These changes have contributed towards a dramatic improvement in clinical outcomes including a significant drop in readmission rates to hospital.