A Multiple-Baseline Study of a Mobile Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Eating Disorders in College Students

Abstract

Introduction: Eating disorders are serious psychiatric disorders associated with substantial morbidity and the highest rate of mortality of all psychiatric disorders and they are especially prevalent among college students. Despite the severity and prevalence of eating disorders, fewer than 20% of college students with eating disorders receive help for their eating problems. Given the lack of eating-disorder treatment on many college campuses, mobile adaptations of evidence-based treatments may represent an innovative method of disseminating treatment to a larger number of college students with eating disorders. Thus, the purpose of this study was to administer a mobile, self-guided cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT-gsh) for reducing eating-disorder psychopathology in college students with eating disorders. Method: A multiple-baseline design was used to examine intervention effects on eating-disorder psychopathology, clinical impairment, and internalizing psychopathology in three college students. Data were examined using visual analysis and Tau-U effect-size calculations. Observed means were compared to normed means. Results: Participants demonstrated significant decreases in Eating Pathology Clinical Outcomes Tracking (EPCOT) Total Score and Binge Eating. Results were mixed for EPCOT Restricting, Excessive Exercise, and Body Dissatisfaction. No participants reported purging. Conclusions: The current study was one of the first to examine mobile CBT-gsh for the treatment of eating disorders in college students and one of few applications of a multiple-baseline design to examine treatment effects in the field of eating disorders. The current findings encourage further testing of the intervention to replicate and extend the observed treatment effects. Mobile CBT-gsh may represent an innovative tool that could be scaled to reach a larger number of persons with eating disorders, especially those who are under-served.