Early Evaluation of a DBT-Informed Online Intervention for People with Eating Disorders

Course overview

Course Description: This course is based on material published in the Journal of Eating Disorders and is available as an open-access article. Eating disorders (EDs) have a worldwide prevalence of 7.8%, with towering mortality rates and high healthcare costs. The current recommended treatment for EDs principally works by directly targeting ED thoughts and behaviors, but recovery rates are low. A multifaceted link between difficulties with emotions and EDs is now widely established, and newer third?wave therapies that aim to address these underlying emotion difficulties are promising. The current study piloted an online emotion self?help intervention which was co?developed with clinicians and people with lived experienced of EDs. The intervention aimed to specifically address difficulties with emotion identification and regulation, as well as unhelpful beliefs about emotions, which are believed to give rise to and maintain ED thoughts and behaviors. Significant improvements in emotion processing and regulations, as well as psychopathology, along with positive qualitative feedback, suggest that the intervention effectively met its aims of increasing aware? ness of the link between emotions and eating psychopathology, providing help to identify and regulate emotions, and normalzing emotional experiences. While our results are promising, further research is required to assess its effectiveness longer term and in clinical settings. This course on online interventions for eating disorders is designed for clinical social workers, psychologists, professional counselors, nurses, and substance abuse counselors who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their expertise with online interventions for eating disorders. The course material includes a literature review of interventions. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require continuing clinical education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article that includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not. A significant benefit of reading peer reviewed research-based articles for continuing education is that they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field. Authors: Vuiller, Greville-Harris, Talbot, May, Moseley Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding online interventions for eating disorders. Specifically, a professional will: Describe the link between eating disorders and difficulties with emotions. Identify current treatment recommendations for eating disorders. Recognize results associated with DBT informed online interventions and eating disorders. Citation: Vuillier, L., Greville-Harris, M., Talbot, C. V., May, L., & Moseley, R. L. (2024). Early evaluation of a DBT-informed online intervention for people with eating disorders. Journal of eating disorders, 12(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-024-00974-5