Optimizing a single-session consultation for families on waitlists for eating disorder treatment

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Incidence rates of eating disorders among adolescents are consistently rising, signaling an imperative to improve care options for these debilitating psychiatric conditions. Currently, many young people with eating disorders experience delayed or restricted access to evidence-based treatment, which increases risk for poor treatment outcomes and a chronic symptom course. Emerging work within other mental health conditions suggests that brief and single-session interventions represent promising, low-resource approaches to promoting positive clinical changes and/or promote later engagement in longer-term mental health treatment. However, no research to date has tested single-session interventions among youth with eating disorders and their families. In the current proposal, we outline a Type I Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial testing a single-session consultation (SSC) protocol for treatment-seeking youth with eating disorders and their caregivers who are waiting for specialty care. Following a Preparatory Phase during which we engage key-stakeholders, we will evaluate two aims: (1) Test the feasibility, acceptability of both the SSC and the methods for evaluating this intervention via an iterative case series (n = 10 families) and (2) Evaluate target engagement and preliminary efficacy of the SSC in engaging hypothesized mechanisms of change (hope; self-efficacy; motivation), symptom change, and promoting later treatment engagement through conducting a pilot randomized controlled trial (n = 44 families). The proposed study will yield a finalized version of the SSC and assessment procedures to test in a fully powered, randomized, controlled trial. Further, throughout study activities, we intend to collect data on a range of indicators relevant to implementation using the RE-AIM framework. Short-term, our results will provide critical information regarding the feasibility and acceptability of a single-session intervention for youth on a waitlist for eating disorder treatment and their families. Long-term, innovative approaches to promoting treatment access and treatment success in youth with eating disorders like the SSC are critical to reduce harms caused by long waits for treatment, bridge gaps in services, and increase motivation to participate in future care.