Mindfulness and Eating Disorder Symptoms

NCT05539807 | Enrolling By Invitation

• 1 other identifier: REK353216
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 197
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This prospective one-arm study aims to examine short and long-term changes in dysfunctional eating among individuals who signed up for an 8-week, group based, low threshold, mindfulness-based intervention. The study is an extension of a quality assurance project which was provided by a nation-wide self-help organization for people with self-identified eating problems. Eating disorder symptoms and the proposed predictors (self-kindness, self-judgment and mindfulness) were registered online at 12 measurement time points. In the current study we will invite the same participants to complete the same measures four years after the intervention.

Conditions

Eating Disorders

Keywords

Eating Disorder; Mindfulness; Self-compassion; Longitudinal; Within-person; Long-term

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change in eating disorder symptoms measured by Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q)

  A self-report questionnaire measuring eating disorder symptoms by Fairburn and colleagues

  Pre, weekly during treatment - 8 weeks, post, 6 months follow-up, four years follow-up

• Change in self-kindness, self-judgement and mindfulness from the Self-compassion scale

  Subscales from the self-compassion scale of Kristin Neff and colleagues. Self-kindness indicates the tendency to respond with kindness to own feelings of distress and failure (e.g. I try to be understanding and patient towards those aspects of my personality I don't like). Self-judgment indicates the tendency to respond with self-judgment to own feelings of distress and failure (self-judgment, e.g. I'm disapproving and judgmental about my own flaws and inadequacies). Mindfulness indicates the tendency to respond with balanced awareness to own feelings of distress and failure. E.g.: "When something painful happens I try to take a balanced view of the situation".

  Pre, weekly during treatment - 8 weeks, post, 6 months follow-up, four years follow-up

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change in mindful eating as measured by the Mindful Eating Questionnaire

  Pre, post, 6 months follow up, four-years follow-up

• Change in relationship and life Satisfaction

  Pre, post, 6 months follow up, four-years follow-up

Study Arms (1)

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

All participants receive the intervention

Behavioral: Mindful Eating Conscious Living

Interventions

Mindful Eating Conscious Living BEHAVIORAL

MECL is a 8 week mindfulness-based group intervention. Each session is of 2.5-3 hours duration. During the sessions, theories about eating-related difficulties in general are presented, participants are guided in mindfulness practices and participants who want to share their experiences in the group can do so. Topics include: (1) What is mindfulness, why and how can we use mindfulness in relation to eating (2) slowing down, taking breaks and noticing different types of "hunger" (e.g. physical hunger and the "hunger" for comfort - "heart hunger) (3) working with satiety and satisfaction (4) becoming aware of patterns associated with one's eating behaviors, (5) awareness of feelings and bodily sensations (6) Food and mood (7) craving, and finally (8) working with "heart hunger" and emotional eating. Six to 10 participants participated in each group.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 16 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Self-identifying as having a binge-eating related problem and being 16 years or older.

You may not qualify if:

• High suicidal risk, serious self-harm, active psychosis, active major depressive episode, anorexia nervosa, BMI \< 18, or debilitating social anxiety.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Bergen: lead
• Modum Bad: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Bergen

Bergen, Bergen, 5009, Norway

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding and Eating Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Signs and Symptoms, Digestive; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Ingrid Dundas, PhD

  University of Bergen

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 24, 2022
• First Posted: September 14, 2022
• Study Start: October 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2030
• Last Updated: July 29, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: After completion of the study and for five years.
• Access Criteria: Data will be deposited in relevant data depositories and shared with researchers with legitimate interest who's research seems ethically sound.

Locations

NO (1)