Preparing for Eating Disorders Treatment Through Compassionate Letter-Writing
- Conditions
- CompassionEating DisordersAnorexia NervosaBinge-Eating DisorderBulimia Nervosa
- Interventions
- Other: Self-compassionate letter-writing intervention
- Registration Number
- NCT04174703
- Lead Sponsor
- University of Waterloo
- 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.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 160
- DSM-5 diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder
- Eligible to start group eating disorders treatment at St. Joseph's Eating Disorder Program
- 17 years of age or older
None
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Self-compassionate letter-writing intervention Self-compassionate letter-writing intervention An online self-compassionate letter-writing task once per day (10-20 minutes each) for 2 weeks
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method 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).
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).
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).
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method 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).
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton
🇨🇦Hamilton, Ontario, Canada