Loughborough University
Browse

Evaluating a motivational and psycho-educational self-help intervention for athletes with mild eating disorder symptoms: A mixed methods feasibility study

Download (723.87 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2022-02-23, 16:40 authored by Sebastian Schanche Sandgren, Emma HaycraftEmma Haycraft, Jon Arcelus, Carolyn PlateauCarolyn Plateau
Objective: The primary aim was to assess the feasibility of undertaking a study evaluating the novel Motivational and Psycho-Educational Self-Help Programme for Athletes with Mild Eating Disorder Symptoms (MOPED-A). A mixed-methods approach was adopted to explore the feasibility of recruiting and retaining participants, and to evaluate the acceptability of measures, procedures and the intervention. A secondary aim was to explore the potential efficacy of MOPED-A in reducing athletes’ eating disorder symptoms.
Method: Thirty-five athletes were recruited. Participation involved completing MOPED-A over 6-weeks and completing self-report measures at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2) and 4-week follow-up (T3). A subsample (n=15) completed an interview at T2.
Results: Retention was good throughout the study (n=28; 80%). Quantitative and qualitative feedback suggested the format, delivery, content and dosage of MOPED-A were acceptable. Athletes valued that the intervention was tailored to them, and this facilitated both participation and completion. Over a third of participants reported disclosing their eating difficulties and deciding to seek further support. Large reductions in eating disorder symptoms were detected at T2 and sustained at T3.
Conclusions: The MOPED-A intervention can be feasibly implemented, is acceptable to participants, and demonstrates potential for reducing symptoms in athletes. A larger, controlled trial is warranted.

Funding

PhD studentship from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University

NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

European Eating Disorders Review

Volume

30

Issue

3

Pages

250-266

Publisher

Wiley

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Rights holder

© The Authors

Publisher statement

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Wiley under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Acceptance date

2022-02-01

Publication date

2022-02-15

Copyright date

2022

ISSN

1072-4133

eISSN

1099-0968

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Emma Haycraft. Deposit date: 2 February 2022

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC