Leveraging Social Media to Identify and Connect Teens With Eating Disorders to a Mobile Guided Self-Help Mobile Intervention
Leveraging Social Media to Identify and Connect Teens With Eating Disorders to a Mobile Guided Self-Help Mobile Intervention
Clinical or subclinical eating disorders (EDs) impact 10% of individuals in their lifetime
 and are marked by significant functional impairment, early mortality, chronicity, and
 emotional distress. ED symptoms often emerge in adolescence, with peak onset age in the
 teenage years. Early recognition and treatment of these devastating illnesses are needed to
 prevent long-term consequences and a chronic course. Most (80%) individuals with EDs,
 including teens with EDs (TwEDs), do not receive treatment. Due to major barriers to access
 and to the delivery of treatment for TwEDs, there is a need for a new model of service
 delivery that can identify and help TwEDs. We demonstrated our ability to harness social
 media to identify and efficiently recruit large numbers of TwEDs. Our team has successfully
 developed a guided self-help cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based mobile app for previous
 studies and have adapted this app to address the specific needs of TwEDs. In proposed study,
 we will test this updated mHealth intervention, which includes simplified language and
 tailored content relevant to adolescent issues and a social networking feature designed to
 facilitate group exchanges and coach-led weekly group sessions. This mHealth intervention
 will be investigated among 150 TwEDs recruited from Instagram/Facebook to test preliminary
 efficacy and feasibility of this mHealth intervention to improved eating disorder symptoms
 among TwEDs not currently engaged in treatment. We will also garnering feedback via a mixed
 methods approach on the efficiency, technical effectiveness, and satisfaction with mHealth
 intervention content and features. Participants will be randomized to one of 3 study arms,
 including a control group (standard referral to care), a group with access to the mobile app
 only, and a group with access to the mobile app plus social networking feature. We
 hypothesized that those with access to the mobile app intervention will have improved ED
 outcomes in comparison to the control group, and that those with access to the additional
 social networking feature will have the most improvement in ED symptoms out of all three
 groups.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  US Resident

 -  Owns or has daily access to an iOS or Android smartphone

 -  English-speaking

 -  Screen Positive for a DSM-5 subclinical/clinical eating disorder other than anorexia
 nervosa (AN)

 -  Endorse at least 6 episodes of binge eating, vomiting, and/or laxative/diuretic use in
 the past 3 months

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Currently Engaged in eating disorder treatment

 -  Screen Positive for Anorexia Nervosa

 -  Wards of the State or Foster Children