An integrated online 10-session group intervention for binge eating: preliminary results

Introduction: Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN) are characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating (BE) associated with marked loss of control, guilt, embarrassment or disgust, and severe psychological distress [1]. BE is associated with poor emotion regulation [2] and in BED with obesity [3, 4]. Several treatments have proven to be effective both face-to-face and online [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. However, there is the need for increasing accessibility to care, especially after COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate effectiveness of a group online intervention adapted from Safer and colleagues’ protocol [5]). Methods: The protocol consists of 9 sessions conducted by two licensed psychotherapists, targeting the regulation of eating behaviour and emotions for reducing BE and the other related symptoms. One session of healthy eating education conducted by a physician trained in clinical nutrition is also included. The clinical sample is being recruited within a university hospital service. Participants are enrolled in the study after a large medical and psychological evaluation. They are then assigned to the experimental group or to the waiting list control group (CG) and are asked to complete self-report questionnaires at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention (T1) and a 1 month-follow-up (T2) (Fig. 1 summarize the procedure). Results: A sample of 24 patients (MAge = 37.04, SD = 14.30; 75% females) with a mean BMI of 37.64 (SD = 12.48) completed T0 and T1. Only 17 participants completed the follow-up. Data of the CG are not included here due to the small sample size. Preliminary results show that from pre to post intervention all symptoms (i.e., binge eating, disordered eating, emotional eating and psychopathological symptoms) as well as BMI decreased significantly, while eating self-efficacy and self-esteem increased (see Table 1). Figure 2 describes the changes in BE across the three assessment points. Discussion and conclusions: Preliminary results show that the program is effective in reducing eating disorders-related psychopathology and BMI and in increasing eating self-efficacy and self-esteem in patients reporting BED, BE or BN. Its main characteristics, i.e. being short (10 sessions), accessible (being online) and cost saving (being conducted in small groups), indicate it may be effectively implemented in clinical and public services (such as hospitals or university clinics).