Adapting and Adopting Highly Specialized Pediatric Eating Disorder Treatment to Virtual Care: Implementation Research for the COVID-19 Context and Beyond

NCT ID: NCT04678843

Last Updated: 2022-09-10

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: EARLY_PHASE1
• Total Enrollment: 36 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-02-09
• Study Completion Date: 2021-08-01

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.

Conditions

Anorexia Nervosa

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Virtual Family-Based Treatment

Family-based treatment is the gold standard treatment for youth and adolescents with anorexia nervosa. A therapist works with the family to help parents take charge of the process of re-feeding their child, and with progress this control is gradually given back to the youth/adolescent. Other developmental issues are discussed in order to help the youth/adolescent get back to normal development.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Virtual Family-Based Treatment

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Treatment involving the youth/adolescent who has been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and their family, delivered virtually via videoconferencing.

Interventions

Virtual Family-Based Treatment

Treatment involving the youth/adolescent who has been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and their family, delivered virtually via videoconferencing.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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

• Minimum Eligible Age: 10 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Jennifer Couturier

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Jennifer Couturier

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Jennifer Couturier, MD MSc

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

McMaster University

Locations

Southlake Regional Health Centre

Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

St. Joseph's Care Group

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

North York General Hospital

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

CMHA Waterloo Wellington

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Countries

Canada

References

Couturier J, Pellegrini D, Grennan L, Nicula M, Miller C, Agar P, Webb C, Anderson K, Barwick M, Dimitropoulos G, Findlay S, Kimber M, McVey G, Lock J. Multidisciplinary implementation of family-based treatment delivered by videoconferencing (FBT-V) for adolescent anorexia nervosa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Transl Behav Med. 2023 Feb 28;13(2):85-97. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibac086.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 36327378 (View on PubMed)

Couturier J, Pellegrini D, Grennan L, Nicula M, Miller C, Agar P, Webb C, Anderson K, Barwick M, Dimitropoulos G, Findlay S, Kimber M, McVey G, Paularinne R, Nelson A, DeGagne K, Bourret K, Restall S, Rosner J, Hewitt-McVicker K, Pereira J, McLeod M, Shipley C, Miller S, Boachie A, Engelberg M, Martin S, Holmes-Haronitis J, Lock J. A qualitative evaluation of team and family perceptions of family-based treatment delivered by videoconferencing (FBT-V) for adolescent Anorexia Nervosa during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Eat Disord. 2022 Jul 26;10(1):111. doi: 10.1186/s40337-022-00631-9.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 35883167 (View on PubMed)

Couturier J, Pellegrini D, Miller C, Agar P, Webb C, Anderson K, Barwick M, Dimitropoulos G, Findlay S, Kimber M, McVey G, Lock J. Adapting and adopting highly specialized pediatric eating disorder treatment to virtual care: a protocol for an implementation study in the COVID-19 context. Implement Sci Commun. 2021 Apr 8;2(1):38. doi: 10.1186/s43058-021-00143-8.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 33832543 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

12722

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id