The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether a new digital intervention decreases eating disorder symptoms in young women and girls at risk by changing how they experience thoughts and feelings about their body. The digital intervention is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Participants will be randomly assigned (like a coin toss) to either the new digital intervention or education modules completed online. The main questions are: Does the digital intervention change how participants experience thoughts and feelings about their body or how they react to eating disorder triggers (e.g., images of idealized bodies)? Do these changes lead to decreases in eating disorder symptoms? Is the intervention acceptable and at the right dose? Participants will: Complete seven brief digital sessions over about 8 weeks. Complete interviews, surveys and lab assessments of reaction to body-related words and images. Participants are followed for about 1 year.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
128
Intervention consists of seven 20-minute sessions of a digital intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Participants learn psychological flexibility skills for body-image distress by completing interactive exercises and games with a relatable character and story line and receive rewards that reinforce learning.
Intervention consists of seven digital online sessions of education about eating disorders and body image. Participants read information about how eating disorders develop and their impact on health and well-being and body image, watch videos and complete quizzes to check knowledge.
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina, United States
Change from Baseline in the Body Image - Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (BI-AAQ)
Self-report measure of body-image psychological flexibility. The measure consists of 13 (full measure) or 5 (short measure) items that ask about the degree to which thoughts and feelings about the body interfere with living. Higher scores indicate greater flexibility/adaptability.
Time frame: Baseline, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48 weeks
Change from Baseline in the Body-Image Stroop Bias Score
Change in reaction time to body-related versus neutral words in an emotional stroop paradigm. In this paradigm, participants identify the color of the written word as quickly as possible. Differences in reaction time between emotionally relevant words and neutral words is calculated as a bias score. Lower bias scores indicate improvement.
Time frame: Baseline, 8 weeks, 24 weeks
Change from Baseline in Eye Gaze Fixations - Body-Image Related Images
Change in the number of fixations on body-image related images, including idealized bodies, overweight bodies, body-weight measurement, and images of binge eating and body-related distress. Fewer fixations indicate improvement.
Time frame: Baseline, 8 weeks, 24 weeks
Acceptability of the intervention
Enrollment targets met, \>70% of participants that start the intervention will complete \>80%, \>70% of participants and sessions will have user inputs indicating engagement.
Time frame: 8 weeks
Change from Baseline in Eating Disorder Examination (EDE)
Clinician-administered interview assessing eating disorder symptom severity, producing a Global score (main outcome) and 4 Subscale scores: Restraint, Eating Concerns, Weight Concerns, Shape Concerns. Higher scores indicate greater symptomatology.
Time frame: Baseline, 12 weeks, 24 weeks
Change from Baseline in the Eating Disorder Examination - Questionnaire (EDE-Q)
Questionnaire format of the clinician-administered interview assessing eating disorder symptom severity, producing a Global score (main outcome) and 4 Subscale scores: Restraint, Eating Concerns, Weight Concerns, Shape Concerns. Higher scores indicate greater symptomatology.
Time frame: Baseline, 12, 24, 36, 48 weeks
Change from Baseline in the Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA)
Measures the extent to which eating disorder symptoms impair functioning. Higher scores indicate greater impairment.
Time frame: Baseline, 12, 24, 36, 48 weeks
Change from Baseline in the Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes -10 (CompACT-10)
A 10-item measure of psychological flexibility as a multidimensional construct with subscales of Openness, Awareness and Engagement. Higher scores indicate greater flexibility/adaptability.
Time frame: Baseline, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48 weeks
Change from Baseline in Daily Levels of Body Image Distress and Psychological Flexibility
4 days of ecological momentary assessment of 1) distress/body-image distress 2) problematic behaviors to change body weight/shape, 3) general attempts to suppress/get rid of unwanted thoughts and feelings, 4) avoiding doing things because of concern about body, and 5) the ability to maintain adaptive distance and 6) orient to values. Scaled items are on a Likert Scale 1=Not at All to 6=Very Much. For items 1-4, higher scores are more problematic; For items 5-6, higher scores are more flexible adaptive.
Time frame: Baseline, 8 Weeks
Change from Baseline in Heart Rate when Viewing Emotional Film Clips
Heart rate and heart rate variability measured with BIOPAC during the viewing of film clips (neutral, emotional-general, emotional-body-image related). Increases indicate greater flexibility/adaptability.
Time frame: Baseline, 8 weeks, 24 weeks
Change from Baseline in Cognitive Flexibility - Set-Shifting as assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST)
68-item computerized version of the WCST using default settings; perseverative errors. Decreases in errors indicates greater cognitive flexibility/adaptability.
Time frame: Baseline, 24 weeks
Change from Baseline in Response Inhibition as assessed by Go/No-Go Task
The Go/No-Go task measures ability to inhibit a response when signaled (among other outcomes), measured by commission errors (frequency of responding when signaled to not respond); Other indices include sensitivity (ability to discriminate go/no go trials) and reaction time to go stimuli. Commission errors are of primary interest; decreases indicate reductions in impulsivity / improvement.
Time frame: Baseline, 8 weeks, 24 weeks
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