SPICE Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Short Psychological Intervention for Children and adolescents with Eating disorders (SPICE) study
IRAS ID
323971
Contact name
Roz Shafran
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2023/03/167, UCL Data Protection
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Eating disorders are common and serious mental health conditions that typically begin in adolescence. There are some effective psychological treatments for eating disorders in children and young people (CYP), including family-based therapy (FBT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). However, these treatments are costly and time-consuming, and the demand for treatment far outweighs the availability of resources.
One way to increase access to psychological support for CYP with eating disorders would be to develop a guided self-help intervention, which is brief in nature and requires less therapist time/input than traditional psychological treatments. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend guided self-help interventions for adults with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. They are also widely used in the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression and behavioural difficulties in CYP. However, child and adolescent eating disorder services in the UK do not routinely use guided self-help interventions as they have not been sufficiently researched.
The overarching aim of this project is to improve access to psychological treatments for CYP affected by eating disorders. Specifically, this preliminary study aims to examine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a guided self-help intervention for CYP (aged 8-19 years) with impairing symptoms of eating disorders using a case series design. CYP, and/or their parents/carers, will complete a screening questionnaire and clinical assessment to determine their eligibility for the study. Eligible families will be asked to complete baseline measures before receiving a self-help intervention workbook and 8x30-minute guidance sessions. Questionnaire measures and a clinical assessment will be repeated immediately 12 weeks after the baseline measures, to evaluate CYP outcomes. Families' acceptability of the treatment will also be examined.
This study is funded by a Child Health Research PhD Studentship at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
23/WS/0097
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion