NCT05499676

Helping HAND: Healing Anorexia Nervosa Digitally

Development and Pilot Testing of a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy-Guided Self-Help Mobile App for the Post-Acute Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 90 (actual)
• Sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The proposed project will develop and pilot a coached mobile app, including a social networking component, for individuals with anorexia nervosa to use in the post-acute period

Detailed description

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a costly and life-threatening illness. Patients with severe AN are often treated in the acute setting, but relapse after treatment is common. Further, the discharge criterion in acute settings is typically weight restoration. However, research has indicated that weight-based recovery is not "enough" and that full recovery involves physical, behavioral, and psychological components. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is useful with this population, including following discharge, and may aid in addressing psychological symptoms, achieving full recovery, and decreasing relapse. However, very few patients have access to providers trained in these techniques. mHealth technologies have great potential to exponentially increase access to high-quality services for the post-acute treatment of AN by addressing barriers to treatment, but to date, research on these approaches has been extremely limited. A guided self-help CBT-based mobile app, StudentBodies-Eating Disorders (SB-ED), has been successfully developed, demonstrating effectiveness among college women with binge/purge-type EDs. At the same time, there is demonstrated support for in-person CBT for the post-acute care and relapse prevention of adult AN. The overarching goal of this R34 is thus to develop and test a CBT-based, coached mobile app to address the post-acute care and relapse prevention.

Conditions

• Anorexia Nervosa

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	SilverCloud Health Mobile Intervention	SilverCloud Health is a mobile mental health platform offering cognitive-behavioral therapy-based guided self-help programs, including one for anorexia nervosa developed by our team. Participants in this arm will receive the support of a coach to guide them through the program. Participants will be able to communicate with their coach within the program.
DEVICE	Social Networking Intervention: Facebook	Facebook is a social networking site that will offer participants the opportunity to interact with study team posts, post themselves, and connect with others in the study experiencing similar struggles in a private group

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-12-01
• Primary completion: 2025-03-01
• Completion: 2025-03-01
• First posted: 2022-08-12
• Last updated: 2025-07-17

Locations

3 sites across 1 country: United States