Treatment Uptake Chatbot for Eating Disorders

Study Summary

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious mental illnesses associated with high morbidity and mortality, clinical impairment, and comorbid psychopathology. Although evidence-based treatments for EDs have been established, the treatment gap is wide. Indeed, \<20% of individuals with EDs receive treatment. There is need for a novel solution not only to identify individuals with EDs but also to encourage mental health services use and to address treatment barriers. This study aims to implement a conversational agent or "chatbot" that is optimized to increase mental health services use among individuals with EDs through such features as: 1) education on the seriousness and consequences of EDs; 2) engaging the user in motivational interviewing to overcome barriers to care; 3) providing a personalized recommendation for seeking intervention; 4) repeated check-ins with the user to encourage follow-up with care. This study will utilize a randomized optimization trial with adults who have completed screening on the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) website and screen positive for an ED but are not in treatment to determine chatbot feasibility and to generate data on the effect of the chatbot on motivation for treatment and mental health services use. This trial will employ the Multiphase Optimization Strategy framework, using a 2\^4 full factorial design, to randomly assign participants to a combination of the four proposed intervention components (n=16 conditions) to isolate the active ingredients.

Primary Outcome

Treatment utilization was measured at each follow-up time point (2, 6, and 14 weeks), which was assessed via the prompt, "Have you tried or used any type of mental health help (e.g., self-help app, telehealth/in-person counseling, etc.) for your concerns related to your eating, shape, or weight in the past \[2, 6, or 14\] weeks?". We defined a participant as having utilized treatment at the first time they responded, "yes" (vs. "no") to this question. The data presented below indicate the rates

Conditions Studied

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Motivational Interviewing
• BEHAVIORAL Repeated Administration
• BEHAVIORAL Personalized Recommendation
• BEHAVIORAL Core Modules Only
• BEHAVIORAL Motivational Interviewing, Personalized Recommendation, Repeated Administration

Study Locations (1)