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Table 7 Smartphone apps for emerging adults

From: The COVID-19 pandemic and eating disorders in children, adolescents, and emerging adults: virtual care recommendations from the Canadian consensus panel during COVID-19 and beyond

Certainty assessment

Impact

Certainty

Importance

№ of studies

Study design

Risk of bias

Inconsistency

Indirectness

Imprecision

Other considerations

Outcomes: ED psychopathology (EDE-Q); BMI

1

randomized trials

not serious

not serious

not serious

not serious

none

1 pilot RCT with individuals with AN (n = 20 in Recovery Record intervention = guided CBT-based smartphone app+ treatment as usual; n = treatment as usual) [89]. At post-intervention, non-significant small to moderate between-group effect sizes favoured the intervention group regarding ED psychopathology (restraint and shape concerns, assessed from EDE-Q). At 6-month follow-up, effects wore off and no significant differences between the intervention and control groups were found.

HIGH

CRITICAL

At post-intervention, non-significant small to moderate between-group effect sizes favoured the intervention group regarding BMI. At 6-month follow-up, effects wore off and no significant differences between the intervention and control groups were found [89].

Outcomes: ED behaviours (restrictive eating, binge eating, compensatory measures)

1

open trial

very seriousa,b

not serious

not serious

not serious

none

1 open trial of university students with clinical or subclinical EDs, excluding AN (n = 13 universities) [90]. Of the students that screened for an ED and enrolled in the Student Bodies-ED mobile app intervention, ED behaviours such as restrictive eating and binge eating significantly decreased over the course of the users’ time in the 3-year period. While vomiting and diet pill/laxative use were not found to significantly decrease among users during the 3-year period, reports of these types of ED behaviours were very low.

LOW

CRITICAL

  1. aNo control condition
  2. bNo randomization
  3. Bibliography:
  4. RCT – Neumayr 2019 [89]
  5. Open trial – Fitzsimmons-Craft 2019 [90]