A randomised controlled feasibility trial of FREED-Mobile, a smartphone friendly decision-making tool, designed to facilitate help-seeking in young people with eating disorders:None
Le résumé fourni par la source
Background: Early intervention increases the likelihood of eating disorder (ED) recovery but many young people delay help-seeking. We developed a smartphone-friendly, online decision-making tool to address this gap (FREED-Mobile [FREED-M]). Aims: To conduct a randomised controlled feasibility trial of the FREED-M decision-making tool with 16- to 25-year-olds with a suspected ED and no previous ED treatment. Method: Participants were randomly allocated to FREED-M or active control in a parallel group, two-arm trial. Outcomes were measured at weeks 0 (baseline), 4 (post-intervention) and 12 (follow-up). The primary feasibility outcome was attrition at follow-up. Other outcomes included motivational, clinical and economic measures. Results: We over-recruited with 204 randomised participants (including 20 fraudulent participants). Main analyses were conducted with 184 genuine responders (FREED-M: n=91, control: n=93). At baseline, participants’ mean age was 21.0 (SD 2.0) years, 89% identified as female and 64% as white. Mean body mass index (BMI) was 23.1kg/m2 (6.3). N=83 participants had an anorexia nervosa-like disorder, 101 had another ED or high ED risk. Attrition at week 12 was n=112 (61%). Of the n=42 FREED-M participants who provided acceptability ratings, 79% liked the intervention and 66% found it useful. Between-group effect sizes for motivation and readiness to change were small-medium at 4-weeks (d=0.27 and d=0.15, respectively) favouring FREED-M, but differences were not sustained at follow-up (d=-0.02 and d=-0.12, respectively). Discussion: Although the attrition rate was high, recruitment exceeded expectations. Acceptability of FREED-M was high among participants who provided acceptability ratings. Motivation/readiness to change and help-seeking are candidates for primary outcomes in a future randomised controlled trial.
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