Enhanced Cue Exposure Therapy for Negative Emotional Eating

The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Disordered Eating Behaviors; Binge Eating

Treatments: Behavioral: Behavioral Lifestyle Intervention; Behavioral: Enhanced Cue Exposure Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06012045

EA220560

Details and patient eligibility

About

The current study aims to evaluate the efficacy of Enhanced Cue Exposure Therapy (E-CET) in reducing negative emotional eating (NEE), compared to an active control intervention, behavioral lifestyle intervention (BLI), in a parallel-group, participant-blinded, randomized controlled trial. The secondary aim is to evaluate whether changes in conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) expectancies mediate the changes in NEE.

Full description

Participants will be randomly assigned to either the experimental treatment or control BLI group. Participants in the experimental group will receive 6 weeks of E-CET treatment and those in the control group will receive 6 weeks of behavioral counselling integrating behavioral strategies for making changes related to diet and exercise. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, posttreatment, and 3- and 12-month follow-ups.

Research question 1:

Is E-CET an efficacious intervention for reducing NEE?

Hypothesis 1:

E-CET will lead to greater reductions in NEE at posttreatment and follow-up compared to BLI.

Research question 2:

Does E-CET work via the violation of the CS-US expectancies?

Hypothesis 2:

Changes in the believability of CS-US expectancies will mediate the treatment effects of E-CET on NEE.

Enrollment: 138 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• aged 18 or over
• a score >3.25 on the emotional eating subscale of the Dutch Eating Behavioural Questionnaire lasting for three months or longer
• confirmed to have, on average, two or more NEE episodes per week using ecological momentary assessments (EMAs)

Exclusion criteria

• active suicidal intent or plan
• psychiatric illnesses except mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders because mood and anxiety disorders and symptoms are common in those with NEE
• currently receiving psychotherapy, or adjusting to changing psychiatric medication
• substance abuse
• any conditions or circumstances that prevent the participant from receiving all treatment sessions

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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138 participants in 2 patient groups

Enhanced Cue Exposure Therapy

Experimental group

Description:

This is the experimental arm. Participants will receive the 6-session enhanced cue exposure therapy.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Enhanced Cue Exposure Therapy

Behavioral Lifestyle Intervention

Active Comparator group

Description:

This is the active control arm. Participants will receive the 6-session behavioral lifestyle intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Behavioral Lifestyle Intervention