Optimizing Digital Health Technologies to Improve Therapeutic Skill Use and Acquisition
Nemours Children's Clinic
Summary
The purpose of this study is to identify the independent and combined effects of two types of self-monitoring and two types of micro-interventions when combined with standard cognitive behavioral treatment for bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED). The primary aims of this study are (1) to evaluate the optimal complexity of Self-Monitoring and Micro-Interventions on eating pathology (at post-treatment and at 6 and 12-month follow-ups and (2) to test the hypotheses that the optimal complexity level of each component is moderated by baseline deficits in self-regulation. The secondary aim will be to test target engagement for each level of complexity for each component, i.e., to test whether higher complexity of each technological components is associated with better rates of therapeutic skill use and acquisition and that improvements in skill use and acquisition are associated with improvements in outcomes. A final exploratory aim will be to quantify the component interaction effects, which may be partially additive (because components overlap and/or there is diminishing return), fully additive, or synergistic (in that component complexities may partially depend on each other).
Description
The current study will use a 2 x 3 full factorial design in which 264 individuals with BN or BED are assigned to one of six treatment conditions, i.e., representing each permutation of self-monitoring complexity (Skills-Monitoring On vs. Skills-Monitoring Off) and micro-intervention complexity (No Micro-Interventions vs. Automated Reminder Messages vs. JITAIs) as an augmentation to CBT. All participants will be given the gold-standard treatment for eating disorders known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-E) which is the most evidence-based treatment to date for eating disorders and is a wel…