Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study
Binge-eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have adverse psychological and medical consequences. Innovative interventions, like the integration of virtual reality (VR) with cue-exposure therapy (VR-CET), enhance outcomes for refractory patients compared to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/7/1511 |
| _version_ | 1797538721108590592 |
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| author | Katherine Nameth Theresa Brown Kim Bullock Sarah Adler Giuseppe Riva Debra Safer Cristin Runfola |
| author_facet | Katherine Nameth Theresa Brown Kim Bullock Sarah Adler Giuseppe Riva Debra Safer Cristin Runfola |
| author_sort | Katherine Nameth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Binge-eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have adverse psychological and medical consequences. Innovative interventions, like the integration of virtual reality (VR) with cue-exposure therapy (VR-CET), enhance outcomes for refractory patients compared to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of translating VR-CET into real-world settings. To investigate this question, adults previously treated for BED or BN with at least one objective or subjective binge episode/week were recruited from an outpatient university eating disorder clinic to receive up to eight weekly one-hour VR-CET sessions. Eleven of 16 (68.8%) eligible patients were enrolled; nine (82%) completed treatment; and 82% (9/11) provided follow-up data 7.1 (SD = 2.12) months post-treatment. Overall, participant and therapist acceptability of VR-CET was high. Intent-to-treat objective binge episodes (OBEs) decreased significantly from 3.3 to 0.9/week (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Post-treatment OBE 7-day abstinence rate for completers was 56%, with 22% abstinent for 28 days at follow-up. Among participants purging at baseline, episodes decreased from a mean of one to zero/week, with 100% abstinence maintained at follow-up. The adoption of VR-CET into real-world clinic settings appears feasible and acceptable, with a preliminary signal of effectiveness. Findings, including some loss of treatment gains during follow-up may inform future treatment development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:35:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1028fc42697d403a921852771672419c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0383 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:35:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-1028fc42697d403a921852771672419c2023-11-21T14:15:08ZengMDPI AGJournal of Clinical Medicine2077-03832021-04-01107151110.3390/jcm10071511Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot StudyKatherine Nameth0Theresa Brown1Kim Bullock2Sarah Adler3Giuseppe Riva4Debra Safer5Cristin Runfola6Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 401 Quarry Rd, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USAPGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium, 1791 Arastradero Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USADepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 401 Quarry Rd, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 401 Quarry Rd, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USAApplied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, 20095 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 401 Quarry Rd, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 401 Quarry Rd, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USABinge-eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have adverse psychological and medical consequences. Innovative interventions, like the integration of virtual reality (VR) with cue-exposure therapy (VR-CET), enhance outcomes for refractory patients compared to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of translating VR-CET into real-world settings. To investigate this question, adults previously treated for BED or BN with at least one objective or subjective binge episode/week were recruited from an outpatient university eating disorder clinic to receive up to eight weekly one-hour VR-CET sessions. Eleven of 16 (68.8%) eligible patients were enrolled; nine (82%) completed treatment; and 82% (9/11) provided follow-up data 7.1 (SD = 2.12) months post-treatment. Overall, participant and therapist acceptability of VR-CET was high. Intent-to-treat objective binge episodes (OBEs) decreased significantly from 3.3 to 0.9/week (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Post-treatment OBE 7-day abstinence rate for completers was 56%, with 22% abstinent for 28 days at follow-up. Among participants purging at baseline, episodes decreased from a mean of one to zero/week, with 100% abstinence maintained at follow-up. The adoption of VR-CET into real-world clinic settings appears feasible and acceptable, with a preliminary signal of effectiveness. Findings, including some loss of treatment gains during follow-up may inform future treatment development.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/7/1511eating disorderbinge-eating disorderbulimia nervosabinge eatingcue-exposuretherapy |
| spellingShingle | Katherine Nameth Theresa Brown Kim Bullock Sarah Adler Giuseppe Riva Debra Safer Cristin Runfola Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study Journal of Clinical Medicine eating disorder binge-eating disorder bulimia nervosa binge eating cue-exposure therapy |
| title | Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_full | Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_fullStr | Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_short | Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_sort | translating virtual reality cue exposure therapy for binge eating into a real world setting an uncontrolled pilot study |
| topic | eating disorder binge-eating disorder bulimia nervosa binge eating cue-exposure therapy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/7/1511 |
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