Confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a serious and complex impact on the mental health of patients with an eating disorder (ED) and of patients with obesity. The present manuscript has the following aims: (1) to analyse the psychometric properties of the COVID Isolation Eating Scale (CIES), (2) to explore changes that occurred due to confinement in eating symptomatology; and (3) to explore the general acceptation of the use of telemedicine during confinement. The sample comprised 121 participants (87 ED patients and 34 patients with obesity) recruited from six different centres. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) tested the rational-theoretical structure of the 872 FERN ANDEZ-ARANDA ET AL.

In vivo body exposure therapy is considered an effective and suitable intervention to help patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) reduce their body image disturbances (BIDs). However, these interventions have notable limitations and cannot effectively reproduce certain fears usually found in AN, such as the fear of gaining weight (FGW). The latest developments in virtual reality (VR) technology and embodiment-based procedures could overcome these limitations and allow AN patients to confront their FGW and BIDs. This study aimed to provide further evidence of the efficacy of an enhanced (by means of embodiment) VR-based body exposure therapy for the treatment of AN. Thirty-five AN patients (16 in the experimental group, 19 in the control group) participated in the study. FGW, BIDs, and other body-related and ED measures were assessed before and after the intervention and three months later. The experimental group received treatment as usual (TAU) and five additional sessions of VR-based body exposure therapy, while the control group received only TAU. After the intervention, ED symptoms were clearly reduced in both groups, with most of the changes being more noticeable in the experimental group. Specifically, after the intervention and at follow-up, significant group differences were found in the FGW and BIDs, with the experimental group showing significantly lower values than the control group. The current study provides new insights and encouraging findings in the field of exposure-based therapies in AN. VR technology might improve research and clinical practice in AN by providing new tools to help patients confront their core fears (i.e., food- or weight-related cues) and improve their emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to their body image.

Background Despite the worldwide growth in mobile health (mHealth) tools and the possible benefits for both patients and health care providers, the overall adoption levels of mHealth tools by health professionals remain relatively low. Objective This study aimed (1) to investigate attitudes of health care providers and mHealth experts toward mHealth tools in the health context in general, and this study aimed (2) to test the acceptability and feasibility of a specific mHealth tool for patients with an eating disorder (ED), called TCApp, among patients and ED specialists. Methods To this purpose, we conducted an explorative qualitative study with 4 in-depth group discussions with several groups of stakeholders: our first focus group was conducted with 11 experts on mHealth from the Catalan Association of Health Entities; the second focus group included 10 health care professionals from the Spanish College of Doctors of Barcelona; the third focus group involved 9 patients with an ED who had used the TCApp over a 12-week period, and the fourth and last focus group involved 8 ED specialists who had monitored such ED patients on the Web. Results The focus groups showed that health care providers and mHealth experts reported barriers for mHealth adoption more often than facilitators, indicating that mHealth techniques are difficult to obtain and use. Most barriers were attributed to external factors relating to the human or organizational environment (ie, lack of time because of workload, lack of direct interest on a legislative or political level) rather than being attributed to internal factors relating to individual obstacles. The results of the mHealth intervention study indicate that the TCApp was considered as easy to use and useful, although patients and the ED specialists monitoring them on the Web reported different adoption problems, such as the inability to personalize the app, a lack of motivational and interactive components, or difficulties in adhering to the study protocol. Conclusions In general, this paper indicates that both health professionals and patients foresee difficulties that need to be addressed before comprehensive adoption and usage of mHealth techniques can be effectively implemented. Such findings are in line with previous studies, suggesting that although they acknowledge their possible benefits and cost-effectiveness, health care providers are quite resistant and conservative about integrating mHealth technologies in their daily practice.

Objective: There are no generally accepted definitions or markers of treatment nonresponse in eating disorders (EDs). The aim of this paper was to examine how the duration of illness and other potential prognostic markers impacted on nonresponse and drop-out from treatment across different EDs subtypes.Methods: A total sample of 1199 consecutively treated patients with EDs, according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition criteria, participated in this study. Kaplan-Meier curves were

Objective In the attentional bias (AB) phenomenon, eating disorder (ED) patients show a tendency to pay more attention to self‐attributed unattractive body parts than to other body parts. However, little research has focused on gender differences in body‐related attention, controlling for body dissatisfaction (BD). This study aimed to assess gender differences in AB toward specific weight‐ or nonweight‐related body parts using a virtual reality (VR)‐based embodiment technique and an eye‐tracking AB assessment. Method Forty‐five women (23 with high BD and 22 with low BD) and 40 men (20 with high BD and 20 with low BD) were subsequently embodied in three virtual avatars, the first based on the participant's actual measurements, the second being larger than the participant, and the third being the same as the first avatar. The number of fixations and complete fixation time on weight‐related areas of interest (W‐AOIs) and nonweight‐related areas of interest (NW‐AOIs) were recorded for the three assessment time/avatars. Results The results showed a statistically significant interaction between gender and time for total fixation time and number of fixations (p < .05). BD levels did not significantly affect the results. Overall, women paid more attention to the W‐AOIs than men, who in turn paid more attention to the NW‐AOIs. Furthermore, preliminary evidence was found for an AB toward muscular‐related AOIs among men. Conclusions This study provides new information about gender differences and BD in gaze pattern behaviors. Future psychological ED assessments and treatments could take advantage of the possibilities of VR while real‐time AB is objectively measured.