Technology-enhanced maintenance of treatment gains in eating disorders: efficacy of an intervention delivered via text messaging.
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Date
2012-07-24
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE Given the lack of maintenance interventions for eating disorders a program delivered via the short message service SMS and text messaging was developed to support patients after their discharge from inpatient treatment METHOD The efficacy of the intervention was studied in a randomized controlled trial Additionally its impact on the utilization of outpatient treatment during follow up was investigated One hundred sixty five female patients with bulimia nervosa or a related eating disorder not otherwise specified were randomly assigned to a control group treatment as usual TAU or an intervention group SMS based maintenance intervention SMS After hospital discharge participants in the intervention group submitted a weekly symptom report via text message for 16 weeks and received tailored feedback Primary outcome was the rate of partial remission 8 months after discharge from inpatient treatment RESULTS The difference in remission rates reached significance in the intent to treat analyses SMS 51 2 TAU 36 1 1 3 81 p 05 and approached significance in the completer analysis SMS 59 2 TAU 43 5 1 3 44 p 06 There were no differences in the utilization of outpatient treatment Remission rates between the intervention and control groups were not significantly different among patients who used outpatient treatment 63 2 vs 55 6 1 0 44 p 51 A significant difference was found in those who did not utilize such treatment 54 5 vs 30 3 1 3 97 p 046 CONCLUSION The aftercare intervention was efficacious in enhancing treatment outcome after discharge from inpatient treatment