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Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating a Digital Gamified Acceptance and Commitment Early Intervention Program for Individuals at High-Risk for Eating Disorders
Karekla, M.; Nikolaou, P.; Merwin, R.M. Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating AcceptME—A Digital Gamified Acceptance and Commitment Early Intervention Program for Individuals at High Risk for Eating Disorders. J. Clin. Med.2022, 11, 1775.
Karekla, M.; Nikolaou, P.; Merwin, R.M. Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating AcceptME—A Digital Gamified Acceptance and Commitment Early Intervention Program for Individuals at High Risk for Eating Disorders. J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11, 1775.
Karekla, M.; Nikolaou, P.; Merwin, R.M. Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating AcceptME—A Digital Gamified Acceptance and Commitment Early Intervention Program for Individuals at High Risk for Eating Disorders. J. Clin. Med.2022, 11, 1775.
Karekla, M.; Nikolaou, P.; Merwin, R.M. Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating AcceptME—A Digital Gamified Acceptance and Commitment Early Intervention Program for Individuals at High Risk for Eating Disorders. J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11, 1775.
Abstract
Eating Disorders (ED) constitute a serious public health issue affecting predominantly women and appearing typically in adolescence or early adulthood. EDs are extremely difficult to treat as these disorders are ego-syntonic and many patients do not seek treatment. It is vital to focus on the development of successful early-intervention programs for individuals presenting at-risk and are on a trajectory towards developing EDs. This study is a randomized controlled trial evalu-ating an innovative digital gamified Acceptance and Commitment early-intervention program (AcceptME) for young females showing signs and symptoms of an ED and at high-risk for an ED. Participants (N=92; Mage=15.30 years, SD=2.15) received either AcceptME (N=62) or a waitlist control (N=30). Analyses indicated that the AcceptME program effectively reduced weight and shape concerns, with large effects when compared to waitlist controls. Most participants scored below the at-risk cut-off (WCS score<52) in the AcceptME at end-of-intervention (57.1%) com-pared to controls (7.1%) with odds of falling into the at-risk group being 14.5 times higher for participants in the control group. At follow-up, 72% of completers reported scores below the at-risk cut-off in the AcceptME group. The intervention also resulted in a decrease in ED symp-tomatology and increased body image flexibility. Overall, results suggest that the AcceptME program holds promise for early-intervention of young women at-risk for developing an ED.
Keywords
Early-Intervention; High-risk for Eating Disorders; Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; Gamification; Digital Intervention; Vicarious learning
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.