Internet‐based cognitive behaviour therapy for the prevention, treatment and relapse prevention of eating disorders: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Abstract
Eating disorders (EDs) are undertreated worldwide. In the UK the lag between recognition of symptoms and treatment ranges from about 15 months to in excess of 2 years. Internet‐based cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) could be a viable alternative to face‐to‐face cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) that avoids the negative impacts of delayed interventions. Based on evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), this systematic review investigated the efficacy of minimally guided self‐help ICBT, without face‐to‐face therapy, for the prevention, treatment and relapse prevention of all types of EDs in adults. The electronic databases MEDLINE, PsychINFO, CENTRAL, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched between 1991 and 2021. Inclusion criteria specified RCTs with ICBT versus inactive comparison groups. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool‐2 was used for quality assessments. Qualitative synthesis and meta‐analyses were conducted. Findings typically showed medium significant beneficial effect sizes for prevention studies ranging from (−0.31 [95% CI: −0.57, −0.06] to −0.47 [95% CI: −0.82, −0.11]) and generally large effect sizes for the treatment studies ranging from (−0.30 [95% CI: −0.57, −0.03] to −1.11 [95% CI: −1.47, −0.75]). Relapse prevention studies yielded mainly small non‐significant beneficial effects with significant effect sizes of (−0.29 [95% CI: −0.56, −0.03] and −0.43 [95% CI: −0.70, −0.16]). Only the treatment studies reached clinical significance and cognitive…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid.
Read the paper
Related studies
- The Matrisome: In Silico Definition and In Vivo Characterization by Proteomics of Normal and Tumor Extracellular Matrices
- The Escherichia coli MG1655 in silico metabolic genotype: Its definition, characteristics, and capabilities
- In silico pharmacology for drug discovery: methods for virtual ligand screening and profiling
- In silico prediction of splice-altering single nucleotide variants in the human genome
- In silico clinical trials: how computer simulation will transform the biomedical industry
- In silico optimization of a guava antimicrobial peptide enables combinatorial exploration for peptide design
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.