Implementation of a Waitlist Intervention and Clinical Care Pathway for Families Awaiting at Eating Disorders Program

NCT ID: NCT04812899

Last Updated: 2022-03-29

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 30 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-07-30
• Study Completion Date: 2022-02-04

Brief Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in several challenges in service delivery for the eating disorders program at McMaster Children's Hospital. Long waiting lists prior to the pandemic (6-9 month wait time) have been made worse by an interruption in service during the initial stages of the pandemic. New routine assessments were placed on hold for many months, while only the most urgently ill children were seen. This, in combination with a dramatic increase in new referrals has resulted in a long waitlist. Now families are waiting 12-18 months for service. The resulting waitlist is now unmanageable and unsafe. Investigators wish to study the implementation of a waitlist intervention which will educate parents on how to start to renourish their children and interrupt eating disordered behaviors. The intervention will consist of a series of educational videos and a book on how to help their children. It is hoped that this intervention can lessen the need for hospitalization and can change the trajectory of symptoms while waiting for service. A clinical care pathway will also be developed to ensure those waiting receive the most appropriate treatment.

Detailed Description

Investigators would like to study the implementation of an adapted FBT model in which there is no therapist involvement and the intervention is delivered to families on the waitlist of Eating Disorder program at McMaster Children's Hospital. The intervention would involve a series of prerecorded videos and reading material. This, in combination with the development of a clinical care pathway, would help to manage the extraordinary volumes of referrals recently been received. The need to social distance brought on by the pandemic presents the opportunity to consider the value of this waitlist intervention as a structured program for parents who have a child waiting for service. A model such as this could dramatically improve parental abilities to begin to re-feed their children, thereby reducing acuity and time spent in treatment. Similarly, some parents on the waitlist may decide that the proposed treatment model is not suitable after they have received the proposed waitlist intervention, and may wish to seek treatment elsewhere. Alternatively, parents may be able to shift the pattern of weight loss and/or binge purge behavior in children so that the severity of illness is decreased by the time of assessment. If successful, this intervention and clinical care pathway for waitlisted patients and their families could be disseminated to other tertiary care centers, thereby reducing mounting pressures on these centers.

Conditions

Eating Disorders

Study Design

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

Study Groups

Parents who have a child/adolescent with an eating disorder on waitlist

Each participant will receive a series of pre-recorded videos and book -(10 videos of about 10 minutes each, along with the book "Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder"). This will include content on empowering parents to renourish their child and interrupt binge/purge behaviors.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Parental guided self-help version of FBT-pre-recorded videos and readings from the book

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Each participant will receive a series of pre-recorded videos of parental guided self help version FBT. There will be10 videos of about 10 minutes each. The videos will include content on empowering parents to renourish their child and interrupt binge/purge behaviors. Readings will be assigned to each participant from the book "Help Your Teenager Beat and Eating Disorder". There will be psychoeducational content on the dangers and medical complications of eating disorders. The readings will also contain content on coping skills for young people including relaxation, mindfulness strategies, and distress tolerance skills.

Interventions

Parental guided self-help version of FBT-pre-recorded videos and readings from the book

Each participant will receive a series of pre-recorded videos of parental guided self help version FBT. There will be10 videos of about 10 minutes each. The videos will include content on empowering parents to renourish their child and interrupt binge/purge behaviors. Readings will be assigned to each participant from the book "Help Your Teenager Beat and Eating Disorder". There will be psychoeducational content on the dangers and medical complications of eating disorders. The readings will also contain content on coping skills for young people including relaxation, mindfulness strategies, and distress tolerance skills.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. Parents of a child or adolescent (6-17 years) with an Eating Disorder.

2. Have an access to the internet/computer.

3. Have an access to a weigh scale in their home environment

4. Have the capacity to write, speak and understand English

Exclusion Criteria

1. don't have the capacity to write, speak and understand English

2. don't have access to the internet/computer

3. don't have a child or adolescent with an eating disorder

• Minimum Eligible Age: 7 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 100 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

McMaster University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Jennifer Couturier

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Jennifer Couturier, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

McMaster University

Locations

McMaster Children's Hospital

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Countries

Canada

Other Identifiers

13223

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id