Testing the Utility of a Competence Scale for CBT-ED Therapists

May 13, 2024 updated by: Jessica Beard, University of Sheffield

Testing the Utility of a Clinician Competence Scale for Therapists Using Evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy With Eating Disorder Patients

This study aims to test the utility of a newly developed clinician competence scale for those delivering Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-ED), specifically assessing the inter-rater reliability of the measure.

Study Overview

Status

Withdrawn

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Cognitive-behavioural therapy for eating disorders (CBT-ED) is currently one of the NICE (2017) recommended treatments for anorexia nervosa and the only treatment recommended for bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and other specified feeing and eating disorders. When clinicians adhere to evidence-based CBT-ED treatment manuals, CBT-ED has shown demonstrable levels of effectiveness in a range of eating disorders, comparable to outcomes in controlled research settings. A key component of CBT-ED found so effective in the treatment of eating disorders is a stronger focus on behavioural change tasks which is key for changing biased thinking. However, clinicians often drift from using behavioural change components and instead focus more on the cognitive aspects of therapy, or indeed drift away from treatment manuals substantially. Therefore, a suitable measure that can accurately assess how well a clinician is delivering the therapeutic competences that ensures patients are receiving evidence-based CBT-ED thus providing them with the best chance of reaching maximum recovery is important. Whilst numerous scales have been developed, none have yet been found suitable for eating disorders, as they do not have a strong focus on the key behavioural aspects of CBT-ED. Therefore, a team of clinical researchers developed the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Scale for Eating Disorders (CBTS-ED). This pilot study will use CBT-ED therapy session audio-recordings, and different expert and non-expert raters to a) assess the inter-rater reliability of the CBTS-ED and b) assess whether the CBTS-ED can accurately detect improvement in competence among clinicians currently undergoing post-graduate diploma training in CBT-ED. The findings from this study will provide information about the reliability of the CBTS-ED scale and its possible future uses in predicting patient outcomes.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2017). Eating disorders: recognition and treatment (NICE guideline NG69). Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng69

Study Type

Observational

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Clinicians delivering Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-ED) will be assessed by independent raters using the Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Scale for Eating Disorders (CBTS-ED). Clinicians will be delivering therapy in either NHS or Non-NHS organisations. A number of clinicians will be undergoing post-graduate diploma training in CBT-ED at either the University of Sheffield or UCL.

Description

Therapist Inclusion Criteria:

  • Qualified clinicians with a core National Health Service (NHS) profession currently undergoing post-graduate diploma training in CBT-ED at either the University of Sheffield or University College London (UCL), or;
  • Qualified clinicians not on the CBT-ED training course but delivering CBT-ED
  • Treating adult (18+ years) eating disorder patients
  • Have a good understanding of written and verbal English

Patient Inclusion Criteria:

  • Primary diagnosis of an eating disorder
  • Accessing CBT-ED
  • Aged 18+ years
  • Have a good understanding of written and verbal English
  • Have the capacity to provide written informed consent

Rater Inclusion Criteria:

  • Specialists in the field of CBT-ED, or;
  • Qualified clinicians who do not ordinarily work with eating disorder patients, or;
  • CBT-ED trainees at Sheffield University or UCL, or;
  • CBT-ED training course supervisors at Sheffield University or UCL
  • Have a good understanding of written and verbal English

Therapist Exclusion Criteria:

  • Non-qualified clinicians
  • Non CBT-ED clinicians
  • Clinicians only treating children or young people with eating disorders (aged 17 years or younger)
  • Have little understanding of written and verbal English

Patient Exclusion Criteria:

  • Non-eating disorder patients
  • Eating disorder patients who are accessing treatment other than CBT
  • Aged 17 years or younger
  • Have little understanding of written and verbal English
  • Lack the capacity to understand the project and provide written informed consent

Rater Exclusion Criteria:

- Little understanding of written and verbal English

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
CBT-ED trainees and therapists.
Qualified clinicians delivering CBT-ED throughout a variety of treatment settings, working with adult eating disorder patients. Clinicians will audio-record CBT-ED therapy sessions with their eating disorder patients.
Other: Recording of CBT-ED session.
Therapists will deliver treatment as usual (CBT-ED) to eating disorder patients. Therapy session will be audio recorded.
Eating Disorder patients.
Adult (18+ years) eating disorder patients currently accessing CBT-ED from one of the CBT-ED therapists/trainees stated above. Patients will have one of their therapy sessions audio-recorded.
Other: Recording of CBT-ED session.
Therapists will deliver treatment as usual (CBT-ED) to eating disorder patients. Therapy session will be audio recorded.
Raters/Judges.
Either experts or non-experts in the field of CBT-ED. Raters will use the CBTS-ED to assess clinician competence when listening to the therapy session audio-recordings.
Other: Assessment of CBT-ED clinician competence.
Independent raters will assess CBT-ED competence using the Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Scale for Eating Disorders (CBTS-ED).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reliability of the CBTS-ED
Time Frame: 12 months
Internal reliability of the CBTS-ED (Cronbach's Alpha) and the inter-rater reliability of the CBTS-ED (weighted Kappa statistic).
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Sheffield

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Glenn Waller, University of Sheffield

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 (Estimated)

January 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2023

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 14, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 21, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

June 22, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 16, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 13, 2024

Last Verified

May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 298732

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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