Eating disorders (EDs) are serious and prevalent conditions that can impact all aspects of one’s life. However, treatment remains difficult to access as a result of high costs, long waitlists, and geographic limitations. But what if just one encounter could significantly improve cost-effectiveness and long-term outcomes for individuals living with EDs?

Single-session interventions (SSIs)—programs designed to involve only one visit with a clinic, provider, or program—are emerging as a promising approach to better support individuals with EDs who may otherwise be unable to access care.

In a recent publication in the Journal of Eating Disorders, Laura Lapadat, a fourth-year PhD student in McGill’s Clinical Psychology program, investigated the effectiveness of a personalized feedback SSI for individuals with EDs. Lapadat explained that her motivation stems from a desire to make research more collaborative and patient-involved, ensuring that the voices of those directly affected are heard in the development of new interventions.

“When it comes to creating interventions, it’s great to talk to the people who live with the condition and know what it would be like to have to use this [intervention] day to day,” Lapadat said in an interview with The Tribune. 

She emphasized the need to move past a “one size fits all” approach to treating EDs, since there are many subtypes; the most well-known include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders.

“There’s a movement in the field right now towards more personalized approaches to EDs, as there is a lot of variation in how an ED can present and persist,” Lapadat said. “[Personalized interventions] capture different elements of eating disorders, such as levels of symptoms like restrictive eating or emotion regulation problems.”

Using a qualitative approach, the study interviewed 16 individuals with EDs to explore whether they would be interested in a personalized SSI. Lapadat hoped to incorporate their feedback regarding their ED symptoms and behaviours to better understand their experience during recovery.

Participants indicated that they valued the detailed personal information, appreciated actionable recommendations for their health, and hoped for feedback which could be shared with their extended healthcare team to allow for better support.

“People with EDs are interested in seeing their own data and appreciate the personalized element of it as compared to a one size fits all approach,” Lapadat said.

However, some participants reported concerns that personalized feedback may bring up feelings of shame. Lapadat highlighted the emotional complexity patients face when receiving such feedback, describing a participant who experienced strain between their ED and recovery goals. The participant explained that if the feedback indicated she was “doing well,” it could reinforce and trigger her ED habits. This finding illustrates the need for sensitive delivery in making SSIs safe and effective for people who may be at different stages of ED recovery.

“In terms of how it’s delivered, we wanted it to be engaging, to not have too much long text, and to be formatted in ways that respect the autonomy of people with EDs, ideally giving them options about how they view and receive their feedback,” Lapadat said.

Lapadat also acknowledged the study’s limitations caused by its narrow demographic representation. Most participants were white, educated, cisgender women, with many individuals in stable states of their illness.

“Interviewing individuals in more severe states of their illness may have yielded different findings,” Lapadat said.

Looking ahead, the lab’s next step involves recruiting ten individuals with EDs to conduct a pilot study, where participants receive two weeks of five daily phone surveys, to better capture the interventions’ efficacy in real-world settings. Because EDs have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness, implementing effective interventions to overcome barriers to treatment is urgent. Personalized SSIs show an encouraging new avenue for ED care by offering treatment tailored to a patients’ unique needs, cutting costs, and reaching individuals who may otherwise not have access to traditional care.