Preprint Brief Report Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: A Pilot Study

Katherine Nameth
* ORCID logo ,
Theresa Brown
,
Kim Bullock
,
Sarah Adler
,
Giuseppe Riva
ORCID logo ,
Debra Safer
,
Cristin Runfola
*
Version 1 : Received: 2 March 2021 / Approved: 4 March 2021 / Online: 4 March 2021 (10:08:22 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Nameth, K.; Brown, T.; Bullock, K.; Adler, S.; Riva, G.; Safer, D.; Runfola, C. Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 1511. Nameth, K.; Brown, T.; Bullock, K.; Adler, S.; Riva, G.; Safer, D.; Runfola, C. Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 1511.

Abstract

Binge-eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have adverse psychological and medical consequences. Novel interventions, like the integration of virtual reality (VR) with cue-exposure therapy (VR-CET), enhance outcomes for refractory patients compared to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of translating VR-CET into real-world settings. To investigate this question, adults previously treated for BED or BN with at least one objective or subjective binge episode/week were recruited from an outpatient University eating disorder clinic to receive up to eight weekly one-hour VR-CET sessions. Eleven of 16 (68.8%) eligible patients enrolled; nine (82%) completed treatment; 82% (9/11) provided follow-up data 7.1 (SD=2.12) months post-treatment. Overall, participant and therapist acceptability of VR-CET was high. Intent-to-treat objective binge episodes (OBEs) decreased significantly from 3.3 to 0.9/week (p < .001). Post-treatment OBE 7-day abstinence rate for completers was 56%, with 22% abstinent for 28 days at follow-up. Among participants purging at baseline, episodes decreased from a mean of one to zero/week, with 100% abstinence maintained at follow-up. The adoption of VR-CET into real-world clinic settings appears feasible and acceptable, with a preliminary signal of efficacy. Findings, including some loss of treatment gains during follow-up may inform future treatment development.

Keywords

eating disorder; binge-eating disorder; bulimia nervosa; binge eating, cue-exposure; therapy; treatment; virtual reality

Subject

Social Sciences, Psychology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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