Preparing for Eating Disorders Treatment Through Compassionate Letter-Writing

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

160 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-09-29

Study Completion Date

2026-12-31

Brief Summary

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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.

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Detailed Description

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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.

Conditions

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Eating Disorders Anorexia Nervosa Bulimia Nervosa Binge-Eating Disorder Compassion

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

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.

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Caregivers

The care providers will not be told which condition each participant was assigned to.

Study Groups

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Self-compassionate letter-writing intervention

An online self-compassionate letter-writing task once per day (10-20 minutes each) for 2 weeks

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Self-compassionate letter-writing intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

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.

Control condition

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Self-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.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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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

Minimum Eligible Age

17 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No