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Facing Eating Disorder Fears for Anorexia Nervosa

NCT05596799 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 70

Last updated 2026-05-04

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

FED-F is a modular treatment that enhances exposure therapy with psychoeducation and cognitive skills teaching how to face fears of (a) food, (b) weight gain, (c) interoception/body, and (d) social situations. The study goals are to (1) refine and test the acceptability and feasibility of FED-F treatment (Phase I), (2) test if this treatment outperforms treatment as usual (TAU) delivered post-acute treatment as adjunctive to stepdown specialty care (Phase II), and (3) to examine if treatment targets the hypothesized mechanism of action: approach behaviors (Phase II). These goals will lead to a highly deployable and accessible virtual treatment targeted at core AN mechanisms that predict relapse. Specific aims are to (1) refine FED-F into a fully virtual format with input from patients and stakeholders and collect preliminary data (N=10) on its feasibility and acceptability (Phase I), (2) conduct a small pilot RCT (randomized controlled trial) of FED-F (n=30) as compared to TAU (n=30; Phase II), and (3) examine if FED-F targets approach/avoidance behaviors and test if this mechanism is associated with clinical outcomes (Phase II).

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Facing Eating Disorder Fears Condition

The first session consists of diagnosis and general psychoeducation on anorexia nervosa and treatment for anorexia nervosa. After psychoeducation and baseline questionnaires are complete, sessions 2-12 include exposure-based virtual treatment for common eating disorder fears (food, weight gain, body sensations, and social situations).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

    collaborator NIH

  • University of Louisville

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Cheri A Levinson, Ph.D. · University of Louisville

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-12-08
Primary Completion
2026-04-27
Completion
2026-04-27

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05596799 on ClinicalTrials.gov