Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 1993, 21, 371-374 Brief Clinical Report Treatment Evaluation for Eating Disorders by Clients With Eating Disorders Tim Newton and Pat Hartley University College, Salford Peter Sturmey Abilene State School, Texas A group of 54 clients with eating disorders who attended a college-based, group counselling service evaluated four treatments for eating disorders. Individual discussion of problems was uniformly rated as more acceptable than two behavioural treatments (systematic desensitization, and goals and relaxation) which were, in turn, rated as more acceptable than drug treatment. Methodolog- ical problems with this form of consumer evaluation and the need for further evaluation of behaviour therapy within a wider range of clinical populations are discussed. Introduction Client evaluation of treatment programmes has become increasingly important in recent years. It is viewed as one key element in treatment evaluation (Kazdin, 1980; Gullone and King, 1989). The recent developments of service contracts, which require client evaluation of services, further mandates such developments. Although some evaluations of behaviour therapy have included treatment data on acceptability in the field of learning disabilities (Morgan, 1989) and child behaviour (Gullone and King, 1989), the application of this methodology to adult disorders is limited. Smith, Pruitt, McLaughlin, Mann and Thelen (1986) evaluated the acceptability of treatments for anorexia nervosa. They found that psychologically- based treatments, such as counselling and family therapy, were judged more accept- able by college students than exercise, medication or religious guidance. Similar results have been found for behavioural treatment of agoraphobia (Norton, Allen and Hilton, 1983). In a previous study of treatment acceptability in peers, Sturmey (1992) reported that behavioural treatments (graded goals and relaxation) and counselling were more acceptable than flooding and response prevention; drugs were the least acceptable form of treatment. Problem severity and treatment outcome was not related to Reprint requests to Peter Sturmey, Abilene State School, South 25th and Maple, PO Box 451, Abilene, Texas, USA. © 1993 British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies