- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT04028635
Treating the Fear of Gaining Weight in Anorexia Nervosa
November 13, 2020 updated by: Jose Gutierrez Maldonado, University of Barcelona
Treating the Fear of Gaining Weight. A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial for Patients With Anorexia Nervosa
The main aim of this study is to develop a virtual reality (VR) embodiment-based exposure technique to improve the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN).
A systematic and hierarchical body exposure intervention in which the patient owns a virtual avatar is proposed.
At first, the virtual body matches with the real measurements of the patient, then the experimenter will progressively increase Body Mass Index (BMI) values of the virtual body during the exposure sessions until a healthy BMI value is reached (e.g.
BMI score of 20).
In this study a VR embodiment-based technique that combines visuo-motor and a visuo-tactile stimulation procedures is proposed in order to increase illusory feelings of ownership over the virtual body.
It is hypothesised that adding a VR-based body exposure intervention to the classical cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) will significantly reduce symptomatology in AN patients.
Study Overview
Status
Terminated
Conditions
Detailed Description
In order to evaluate the efficacy of the addition of a VR body exposure component to the usual treatment, a randomized controlled clinical trial will be conducted.
54 patients with a primary diagnosis of anorexia nervosa and a BMI > 18.5 will be randomly assigned to the experimental group receiving VR body exposure in addition to cognitive behavioral therapy or control group, which receives cognitive behavioral therapy only.
Data regarding eating disorder symptomatology and body related attention will be collected before and at the end of the intervention, as well as after six months of follow-up.
In the systematic and hierarchical VR body exposure intervention, which consists of 5 weekly exposure sessions, patients will gradually be exposed to increases in the BMI of their virtual avatar.
Each session starts by inducing illusory feelings of ownership over the virtual body by the means of visuo-tactile and visuo-motor stimulation.
Then patients are exposed to their virtual bodies in order to achieve the habituation or extinction of the anxiety response to their body image and, consequently, reduce the fear of gaining weight.
During exposure, patients will be asked to focus on different parts of the virtual body, by asking what they think and feel about them.
Body ownership illusion, body-related anxiety and fear of gaining weight will be assessed within each session by means of visual analogue scales.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
35
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.
Study Locations
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Barcelona, Spain, 08035
- Universitat de Barcelona
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Participation Criteria
Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
12 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Genders Eligible for Study
All
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- patients with primary diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (DSM-V)
- from the age of 14 years
- with BMI <18.5
Exclusion Criteria:
- visual deficits
- epilepsy or neuroleptic medication
- psychotic disorder
- bipolar disorder
- medical complications
- pregnancy
- clinical cardiac arrhythmia
Study Plan
This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Treatment
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: Cognitive-behavioral therapy plus VR-based body exposure
Patients assigned to this group will receive the usual CBT from the clinical unit or the hospital where they are, and additionally, six sessions of VR-based body exposure intervention.
In these weekly sessions patients will go through a body exposure intervention in which the they will own a virtual avatar with their real measurements, that will progressively increase its BMI values throughout the following exposure sessions, until a healthy BMI value is reached.
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Combine usual cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) sessions with additional five VR-based body-exposure therapy sessions.
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Active Comparator: Cognitive behavioral therapy
Patients assigned to this group will receive the usual treatment from the centre in which they are recruited for the study (CBT), and will have to complete the evaluations following the same schedule as the experimental group.
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Usual CBT
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Change in Body Mass Index
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of change in Body Mass Index
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Change in Eating Disorders Inventory-3 (EDI-3) drive for thinness (EDI-DT) scale
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the change in drive for thinness, with maximum possible score of 28, where higher scores indicate higher drive for thinness
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Change in Eating Disorders Inventory-3 (EDI-3) body dissatisfaction (EDI-BD) scale
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the change in body dissatisfaction, with maximum possible score of 40, where higher scores indicate higher body dissatisfaction
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Change in Silhouette Test for Adolescents (TSA) body distortion scores
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the change in body distortion in adolescents using the TSA body distortion scores, which can range from -3 to 3, with higher values indicating higher body distortion
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Change in Silhouette Test for Adolescents (TSA) body dissatisfaction scores
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the change in body dissatisfaction in adolescents using the TSA body dissatisfaction scores, which can range from -3 to 3, with lower scores indicating higher body dissatisfaction
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Figural Drawing Scale for Body Image Assessment (BIAS-BD) body distortion scores
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the change in body distortion in adults using the BIAS-BD body distortion scores, ranging from -80 to 80, with higher scores indicating higher body distortion
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Figural Drawing Scale for Body Image Assessment (BIAS-BD) body dissatisfaction scores
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the change in body dissatisfaction in adults using the BIAS-BD body dissatisfaction scores, ranging from -80 to 80, with higher scores indicating higher body dissatisfaction
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Change in Physical Appearance State Anxiety Scale (PASTAS)
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of body-related anxiety using the PASTAS, with a maximum score of 32, with higher scores indicating higher body-related anxiety
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Change in Body Appreciation Scale (BAS)
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the change in body appreciation using the BAS, with a scale of possible scores ranging from 13-65, where higher scores indicate higher body appreciation
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Change in complete fixation time of the gaze towards weight-related body parts
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the attentional bias towards the body using complete fixation time (evaluated in milliseconds) of the gaze towards weight-related body parts, with higher values indicating a greater attentional bias
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Change in number of fixations of the gaze towards weight-related body parts
Time Frame: from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Evaluation of the attentional bias towards the body using the number of fixations of the gaze towards weight-related body parts, with higher values indicating a greater attentional bias
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from pre-assessment to post-assessment after 6 weeks
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Other Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Body-related anxiety
Time Frame: Up to 40 minutes. Baseline (prior to beginning the body exposure session), every two minutes during the exposure, and at the end of the body exposure session
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Visual analogue scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating higher body-related anxiety
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Up to 40 minutes. Baseline (prior to beginning the body exposure session), every two minutes during the exposure, and at the end of the body exposure session
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Fear of gaining weight
Time Frame: Up to 40 minutes. Baseline (prior to beginning the body exposure session) and at the end of the body exposure session
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Visual analogue scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating higher fear of gaining weight
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Up to 40 minutes. Baseline (prior to beginning the body exposure session) and at the end of the body exposure session
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Body ownership illusion
Time Frame: Baseline (prior to beginning the body exposure session)
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Visual analogue scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating higher body ownership illusion
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Baseline (prior to beginning the body exposure session)
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Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: José Gutiérrez-Maldonado, Prof. Dr., University of Barcelona
Study record dates
These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
February 25, 2019
Primary Completion (Actual)
April 30, 2020
Study Completion (Actual)
July 30, 2020
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
July 16, 2019
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
July 19, 2019
First Posted (Actual)
July 22, 2019
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
November 17, 2020
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
November 13, 2020
Last Verified
November 1, 2020
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- PSI2015-70389-R
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
No
This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.
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