Anorexia Nervosa, Binge-Eating Disorder, Bulimia Nervosa, Compassion, Eating Disorders
Conditions
Brief summary
Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) seeks to lower shame and help people develop compassion for personal distress and shortcomings. There is increasing evidence to support the benefits of incorporating CFT-based interventions into the treatment of eating disorders (EDs). Building on the investigators' prior research, this study will examine the effects of a two-week CFT-based self-compassion letter-writing intervention on patients with eating disorders. Participants will be recruited from the wait-list of patients scheduled to begin treatment at the outpatient St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton Eating Disorders Program, and will be randomly assigned to the two-week letter-writing intervention or to a control group. Results will inform the integration of new empirically-derived interventions into ED treatments to improve the currently dismal rates of ED recovery.
Detailed description
The study consists of two phases. In phase one, participants will be randomly assigned to a two-week daily letter-writing intervention condition or a two-week control condition; phase one will occur two to four weeks prior to the start date of group ED treatment. Participants will complete a brief set of online questionnaires pre-, mid-, and post- two-week condition (i.e. baseline, after one week, and after two weeks). Following these two weeks of intervention/control condition, all participants will complete a 25-week group treatment program as scheduled by the Eating Disorders Program. For phase two of the study, participants will be asked to complete questionnaires after 5 weeks, after 11 weeks, and post-group treatment. Data that is routinely collected as part of patients' clinical care pre- and post-treatment (i.e. on the first day and last week of group treatment) will also be collected.
Interventions
OTHERSelf-compassionate letter-writing intervention
Participants in this condition will be asked to engage in an online self-compassionate letter-writing task once per day (10-20 minutes each) for 2 weeks.
Sponsors
University of Waterloo
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Caregiver)
Masking description
The care providers will not be told which condition each participant was assigned to.
Intervention model description
Half of the study participants (n=80) will be placed into the self-compassionate letter-writing intervention group, and half of the study participants (n=80) will be placed into a control group.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
17 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1. DSM-5 diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder 2. Eligible to start group eating disorders treatment at St. Joseph's Eating Disorder Program 3. 17 years of age or older
Exclusion criteria
None
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Weight- and Body-Related Shame and Guilt Scale (WEB-SG) | Change from baseline to post-2 weeks of intervention/control condition | Self-report questionnaire with 12 questions on a 5-point Likert scale (scored 0-4). Total scores range from 0-48, with higher decrease in score indicative of a better outcome (i.e. higher decrease in levels of shame and guilt). |
| Self-compassion Scale (short form; SCS-SF) | Change from baseline to post-2 weeks of intervention/control condition | Self-report questionnaire with 12 questions on a 5-point Likert scale (scored 1-5). Total scores range from 12-60, with higher increase in score indicative of a better outcome (i.e. higher increase in levels of self-compassion). |
| Readiness to Change Eating Behaviours | Change from baseline to post-2 weeks of intervention/control condition | Self-report questionnaire with 3 questions on a 10-point Likert scale (scored 1-10). Total scores range from 3-30, with higher increase in score indicative of a better outcome (i.e. higher increase in readiness to change disordered eating behaviours). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) | Change from day 1 to week 25 of group eating disorder treatment | Self-report questionnaire with 28 questions, collecting two types of data. The EDE-Q collects frequency data of eating disorder behaviours. The EDE-Q also has four subscales assessing the severity of four aspects of ED psychopathology. These subscales are scored using 7-point Likert scales (scored 0-6). Higher decreases in scores are indicative of a better outcome (i.e. higher decreases in eating disorder symptomatology). |
| Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA) | Change from day 1 to week 25 of group eating disorder treatment | Self-report questionnaire with 16 questions on a 4-point Likert scale (scored 0-3). Total scores range from 0-48, with higher decrease in score indicative of a better outcome (i.e. higher decrease in clinical impairment). |
Countries
Canada
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORAllison Kelly, PhD
University of Waterloo
Outcome results
None listed