Programs targeting prevention and early intervention for eating disorders should focus on reducing stigma and shame, educating individuals about the severity of eating disorders, and increasing knowledge around help-seeking pathways for eating disorders. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2017; 50:9-21).

Objective-To examine acceptability, attrition, adherence, and preliminary efficacy of mobile phone short message service (SMS; text messaging) for monitoring healthy behaviors in children.Design-All randomized children received a brief psychoeducational intervention and then either monitored target behaviors via SMS with feedback, via paper diaries (PD), or participated in a nomonitoring control (C) for 8 weeks. Setting-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill HospitalsParticipants-Fifty-eight children (age 5 -13) and parents participated; 31 completed (SMS: 13/18, PD: 7/18, C: 11/22).Intervention-Children and parents participated in a total of three group education sessions (one session weekly for three weeks) to encourage increasing physical activity and decreasing screen time and sugar sweetened beverage consumption.Main Outcome Measures-Treatment acceptability, attrition, and adherence to self-monitoring. Analysis-Descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests were used to analyze differences across time and group.Results-Children in SMS had somewhat lower attrition (28%) than both PD (61%) and C (50%), and significantly greater adherence to self-monitoring than PD (43% vs 19%, p < 0.02).Conclusions and Implications-SMS may be a useful tool for self-monitoring healthy behaviors in children although the efficacy of this approach needs further study. Implications suggest that novel technologies may play a role in improving health.

Clinically significant change refers to meaningful change in individual patient functioning during psychotherapy. Following the operational definition of clinically significant change offered by Jacobson, Follette, and Revenstorf (1984), several alternatives have been proposed because they were thought to be either more accurate or more sensitive to detecting meaningful change. In this study, we compared five methods using a sample of 386 outpatients who underwent treatment in routine clinical practice. Differences were found between methods, suggesting that the statistical method used to calculate clinical significance has an effect on estimates of meaningful change. The Jacobson method (Jacobson & Truax, 1991) provided a moderate estimate of treatment effects and was recommended for use in outcome studies and research on clinically significant change, but future research is needed to validate this statistical method.

Summary Objective Maintaining weight loss results in childhood obesity treatment is difficult to achieve. Self‐management techniques such as self‐monitoring are associated with increased weight loss and maintenance. This study analyzes whether self‐monitoring of lifestyle behaviours through a short message service maintenance treatment (SMSMT) via mobile phones with personalized feedback positively effects weight, lifestyle behaviours and psychological well‐being in obese children. Methods After 3 months of behavioural lifestyle treatment, 141 overweight and obese children (7–12 years) were randomly assigned to an intervention group receiving SMSMT for 9 months (n = 73) or to the control group (n = 68). The intervention group sent weekly self‐monitoring data on exercise and eating behaviour and their mood via mobile phones. In return, they received tailored feedback messages. Primary treatment outcomes were weight, eating behaviour and psychological well‐being, i.e. competence, self‐esteem and quality of life. Secondary outcome was adherence to the SMSMT. Data were analyzed with mixed modelling. Results SMSMT did not improve treatment outcomes. Controls gained temporarily in physical health scores (P = 0.01). SMSMT completers sent on average every 2 weeks an SMS. Children who had greater weight loss during the first 3 months of lifestyle treatment sent more SMSs (P = 0.04). Conclusions We did not find a positive effect of SMSMT on weight, eating behaviour or psychological well‐being in obese children. SMSMT seems to be a feasible method of treatment delivery. Future research should study variations of SMSMT to investigate how SMSMT can be more effective.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has forced an abrupt change in the delivery of clinical services, including for individuals with an eating disorder. We present this Virtual Issue as a resource for the eating disorder community to showcase research published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders that provides information on effective strategies to help address the challenges arising from COVID‐19‐related disruptions. Articles included describe original research or systematic reviews on obstacles to health services use and strategies to improve access to care; technological tools to provide or enhance interventions; patients' and clinicians' attitudes or perspectives on using digital tools for clinical care; factors influencing therapeutic alliance; and ideas for improving reach and uptake of digital interventions. We hope that readers will find ways to observe and record their own experiences during this global crisis; the experiences of people at risk for developing or exhibiting an eating disorder; and the experiences of those who care for people with an eating disorder. These lived experiences will be invaluable in formulating hypotheses for future studies in service of advancing the understanding of eating disorders and improving interventions and policies for reducing the burden of suffering attributable to eating disorders.

The aftercare intervention was efficacious in enhancing treatment outcome after discharge from inpatient treatment.

The paper introduces the construction and scoring principles of the Short Evaluation of Eating Disorders (SEED), which was developed for the assessment of the key eating disorders symptoms. The questionnaire uses six items and allows the calculation of two severity indices for anorexia and bulimia nervosa symptoms. Data from two patient and one non-patient sample as well as therapist ratings are used to investigate different validity aspects of the SEED. Overall, the analyses underline the validity of the instrument. Recommendations for future research activities on the SEED are outlined.

The development of a text messaging (SMS) based intervention for the aftercare treatment of bulimia nervosa is reported. The programme is offered to bulimic patients for 6 months following discharge from inpatient psychotherapy in a German hospital for psychosomatic medicine. The intervention consists of weekly messages from the patients on their bulimic symptomatology and a corresponding weekly feedback that is a mixture of pre-programmed parts and individually tailored information. An ongoing pilot study is described, designed to investigate the acceptance, the practicability, and the effectiveness of the intervention. Preliminary results indicate that the programme is well-accepted and gives support to bulimic patients after finishing inpatient treatment. Advantages and limitations of the use of the SMS intervention programme in the treatment of bulimia nervosa are discussed.