Project: A randomised controlled study of an online cognitive behavioural self-help intervention for bulimia nervosa, recruiting from community settings.
Target group: One hundred and three individuals, 16 years old or over with a BMI of greater than or equal to 18.5 kg/m2 and who met the DSM-IV criteria for bulimia nervosa or bulimic type EDNOS.
| Overall (N = 103) | Control (N = 46) | Intervention (N = 57) | |
| Age (years) | 30.0 (8.1) | 30.5 (8.0) | 29.8 (8.3) |
| Female | 102 (99%) | 45 (98%) | 57 (100%) |
| BMI | 23.7 (5.0) | 23.3 (4.3) | 24.0 (5.5) |
| Employment
· Full-time · Part-time · At home · Student · Unemployed · Other |
48 (48.5%) 14 (14.1%) 5 (5.1%) 22 (22.2%) 6 (6.1%) 4 (4.0%) |
20 (45.5%) 6 (13.6%) 1 (2.3%) 12 (27.3%) 4 (9.1%) 1 (2.3%) |
28 (50.9%) 8 (14.5%) 4 (7.3%) 10 (18.2%) 2 (3.6%) 3 (5.5%) |
| Diagnosis
· Bulimia Nervosa · EDNOS |
47 (56.6%) 36 (43.4%) |
20 (51.3%) 19 (48.7%) |
27 (61.4%) 17 (38.6%) |
Variables described as mean (SD) or N (%)
Settings: Community based recruitment of UK residents.
Intervention: Participants were randomly allocated to immediate or delayed access (IA or DA) to an online cognitive-behavioural self-help intervention, Overcoming Bulimia Online.
Support offered: During the 10 week intervention period, participants were offered weekly email, telephone or text support sessions with a trained, non-clinical support worker. The focus of the support was to help participants to maintain motivation and reflect of planning and reviewing goals relating to the package content. The support was therefore non-therapeutic.
Outcomes: Significant between-group differences were however found in global EDE-Q score (mean diff = -0.82, CI: -1.16, -0.47; p = 0.00), depression (mean diff = -2.70, CI: -4.25, -1.16; p = 0.001) anxiety (mean diff = -3.05, CI: -4.57, -1.53; p = 0.00) and social adjustment (mean diff = -4.82, CI: -8.47, -1.16; p = 0.01) at the primary 10-week follow-up.
What else? A further qualitative study was carried out to gather information on participants’ experiences of Overcoming Bulimia Online which showed very positive results.
Papers:
McClay, C., Williams, C., Haig, C., McConnachie, A., Waters, L. and Schmidt, U. (2020) A randomised controlled study of an online cognitive behavioural self-help intervention for bulimia nervosa, recruiting from community settings. (Manuscript in preparation)
McClay, C.-A., Waters, L., McHale, C., Schmidt, U., and Williams, C. (2013) Online cognitive behavioral therapy for bulimic type disorders, delivered in the community by a nonclinician: qualitative study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15 (3). e46. ISSN 1439-4456 (doi:10.2196/jmir.2083)