Brief Online eTherapy Program for Individuals with Binge-Eating Disorder or Bulimia Nervosa

The Brief Binge Eating eTherapy (BEeT) program consists of four, one-hour interactive, multi-media sessions developed by clinicians at the InsideOut Institute. Brief BEeT is a Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) program with the core behavioural components of CBT demonstrated effective in eating disorders, including establishing regular eating according to the “three-hour rule” and self-monitoring. BEeT is delivered by a live action therapist (i.e. a recorded video of a therapist delivering the key components of the program). Participants will be instructed to complete one x 60 minute module per week across a six week period. The program also includes interactives exploring key skills in CBT, an inbuilt Food Monitoring, Behaviour Monitoring, and Food Planner. The program sends a daily SMS to participants’ mobile phones at approximately 9 a.m. as a reminder to record their meals using the Food Diary tool throughout the day. An additional evening SMS is sent at approximately 6 p.m. to participants who had not completed a Food Diary entry for the preceding two days to prompt re-engagement. Brief Supported self-help BEeT (Brief SSH-BEeT): Participants complete 4 sessions of BEeT in conjunction to 5 weekly x 30 min face-to-face contact sessions with trained clinician across 6 weeks. The clinicians involved will be those employed at the University of Sydney at the InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders. Training of clinicians in the delivery of Brief SSH-BEeT will be provided via an online program and face-to-face training sessions. The weekly contact sessions with clinicians is not intended to serve an additional therapy, rather will involve supporting the participant through their use of Brief BEeT. Accordingly each face-to-face session will have the following structure: general check-in, review of the previous BEeT session and associated homework tasks with particular focus and debrief of specific self-monitoring exercises, review weekly weigh-in and preparation for completion of next BEeT session and associated homework tasks. Adherence to program content will be captured by the eTherapy system, which provides the rates of participant's completion of program content. Adherence will also be assessed by participant's use of the digital food diary, which is also captured by the eTherapy system. Finally, support session attendance is tracked within RedCap by individual support clinicians, who note participant presence at each scheduled meeting, with the time and date recorded.