Adapting and Adopting Highly Specialized Pediatric Eating Disorder Treatment to Virtual Care: Implementation Research for the COVID-19 Context and Beyond
Overview
- Phase
- Early Phase 1
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Sponsor
- Jennifer Couturier
- Enrollment
- 36
- Locations
- 4
- Primary Endpoint
- Fidelity
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 3 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has had detrimental effects on mental health. Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) are no exception, exhibiting increased symptoms and exacerbated feelings of isolation and anxiety. Across Canada, in-person outpatient services have been quickly replaced with virtual care, yet practitioners and patients have noted substantial challenges in adapting ED-related care virtually. Given the success of our previous research on Family-Based Treatment (FBT) for EDs, as well as the rapid transition to virtual care during COVID-19, there is an urgent need to adapt FBT to virtual formats and adopt it in the ED network. Using a multi-site case study with a mixed method pre/post design, this study aims to examine the implementation of virtual FBT (vFBT) as well as its impact within six ED programs in Ontario, building on the investigator's previous work, and further developing capacity in the system. The investigator will develop implementation teams at each site and provide a virtual training workshop on vFBT, with ongoing consultation during initial implementation. The investigator proposes to examine implementation success by studying fidelity to vFBT, as well as team and patient/family experience with virtual care, and patient outcomes. These findings for virtual care will not only be important in the COVID-19 context but are also vital in the North, where access to specialized services is extremely limited.
Investigators
Jennifer Couturier
Principal Investigator
McMaster University
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Youth must be under 18 years of age in order to participate
- •Youth must have a diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa in order to participate
- •Must have the capacity to write, speak, and understand English
- •Must have access to a computer and the internet.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Individuals 18 years of age and older are unable to participate
- •Youth without a diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa are unable to participate
- •Individuals who cannot write, speak and understand English are unable to participate
- •Individuals who do not have access to a computer and the internet are unable to participate
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Fidelity
Time Frame: Completed after the session 4 of treatment, approximately 4 months
Fidelity to vFBT, measured by FBT fidelity ratings of the first four sessions of vFBT using the FBT Fidelity and Adherence Check (experts in FBT fidelity rating will rate the recordings).
Key components of FBT
Time Frame: Completed after session 4 of treatment, approximately 4 months
Measured by a self-report questionnaire entitled Key Measure of Therapist Behaviours and Self-Efficacy in FBT (an indicator of therapist adherence to the key components of standard FBT within the vFBT model)
Secondary Outcomes
- Qualitative experience of participants(Completed after session 4 of treatment, approximately 4 months)
- Therapists' Change in Confidence related to the Intervention(At baseline, after training (approx. 1 month), and after 4 sessions of treatment (approx. 4 months))
- Change in Weight(At baseline before treatment, and at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks.)
- Therapists' Change in Attitudes about Evidence Based Practice(At baseline, after training (approx. 1 month), and after 4 sessions of treatment (approx. 4 months))
- Therapists' Change in Readiness(At baseline, after training (approx. 1 month), and after 4 sessions of treatment (approx. 4 months))
- Change in Number of Binge/Purge Episodes(At baseline before treatment, and at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks.)