Testing a Brief Mindful Eating Program

Testing a Brief Mindful Eating Program: Feasibility and Proof of Concept

This project evaluated the effects of a brief manualized mindful eating intervention as a treatment for overeating with individuals with overweight and obesity.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Obesity; Overweight; Overeating
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Brief mindful eating intervention

Detailed Description

Overeating leads to overweight and obesity. Effective eating regulation largely depends on an individual's responsiveness to internal cues of physiological hunger and satiety; this phenomenon is known as interoceptive awareness and has been shown to be lower in individuals with overweight or obesity. Mindfulness training may improve interoceptive awareness and thus may facilitate more effective regulation of eating through increased sensitivity to cues of hunger and fullness. Mindful eating programs have been shown to increase interoceptive awareness of hunger and satiety cues and decrease weight in individuals with obesity. Although these programs are effective, they involve lengthy group sessions, require extensively trained staff, and are not widely available outside of clinical research. Thus, the reach and impact of these programs are limited.

The present study developed and tested a brief mindful eating intervention inspired by Kristeller & Wolever's (2010) Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training program to increase interoceptive awareness in individuals with overweight and obesity as a means to increase mindful and intuitive eating, reduce overeating and facilitate weight loss. The program consisted of 9 weekly 10-15 minute sessions structured around one simple evidence-based mindful eating exercise, and was delivered to adult (ages 18-67) employees from a Canadian university.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 68
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Quebec
    • Montréal, Quebec, Canada, H3A1G1
      • McGill University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 67 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• BMI of 25 to 45 kg/m2 (overweight/obese)
• Willingness to commit to program and complete various assessment measures

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having been pregnant in the past six months or planning on becoming pregnant in the next year
• Undergoing treatment for cancer
• Using medications that affect body weight or appetite
• Being diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, major depressive disorder, or another severe psychiatric disease (including dementia)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Intervention; Brief mindful eating intervention

Other: Brief mindful eating intervention; Over the 9-week intervention, participants will be introduced to various mindful eating and intuitive eating practices which are aimed at reducing overeating and facilitating weight loss. Each session will focus on one simple, evidence-based message, aimed at modifying a current weight-relevant eating behavior of the patient. The intervention will focus on two key elements: (1) the mindful awareness of body cues (intuitive eating) and (2) the mindful awareness of external cues (mindful eating).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in overeating	As measured by the Overeating Questionnaire. Scores can range from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating a greater tendency to overeat	Baseline, week 9, and 24-week follow-up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in body weight	Change in body weight (lbs)	Baseline, week 9, and 24-week follow-up

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in mindful eating	As measured by the Mindful Eating Questionnaire. Scores can range between 28 and 112, with higher scores indicating greater levels of mindful eating	Baseline, week 7, 24-week follow-up
Self-compassion	As measured by the Self-Compassion Scale Short Form. Scores range between 26 and 130, with higher scores indicating greater levels of self-compassion	Baseline
Change in intuitive eating	As measured by the Intuitive Eating Scale. Scores can range from 21 to 105, with higher scores indicating greater levels of intuitive eating	Baseline, week 7, 24-week follow-up
Cognitive restraint	As measured by the cognitive restraint subscale of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire. Scores for this subscale range between 3 and 12, with higher scores indicating greater levels of cognitive restraint	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: McGill University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 11, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 26, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): August 28, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 28, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 26, 2020
• Last Verified: August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Obesity; Overweight; Overeating; Mindful eating; Self-compassion; Intuitive eating
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Signs and Symptoms, Digestive; Body Weight; Overweight; Hyperphagia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 46-0617

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No