Open vs. Blind Weighing Study In Adolescents and Young Adult With Eating Disorders

NCT06085092 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 70

Last updated 2025-09-23

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Current treatments for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with eating disorders (EDs) do not effectively address a central ED symptom - anxiety about weight gain - which contributes to poor outcomes. The proposed study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, efficacy, and underlying mechanisms of an enhanced version of "open weighing," a cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to target anxiety about weight gain in AYAs with EDs. Understanding how to better treat AYAs with EDs, and identifying the mechanisms by which interventions lead to improvement, will aid in the development of more effective and personalized treatments, ultimately improving the lives of AYAs with EDs.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Open weighing

The open-weighing intervention aims to challenge beliefs about weight gain. The study coordinator (SC) will explain open weighing, discuss any concerns you have about your weight, and construct a weight graph with the number of weeks on the x-axis and weight in pounds on the y-axis. The SC will help identify beliefs about gaining weight, which will be written on a Feared Outcomes Form. The SC will ask you to predict your weight, mark the weight prediction on the graph, weigh you on a standing scale, record your weight, and discuss your responses to seeing your weight, including any reasons for a difference between your predicted and actual weight. Each week, the SC will graph your actual and predicted weights over time and discuss anything that you are learning from this process. The SC will ask you to complete the Feared Outcomes Form once per day over the next week, review it each week, and talk to you about what you are learning from this process.

BEHAVIORAL

Blind weighing

The blind weighing intervention aims to help you see self-weighing as an eating disorder symptom that you should stop, and that weight is not important to your identity or self-esteem. To do this, the study coordinator will explain why blind weighing might be helpful. You will then be asked to step backwards on a standing scale. The study coordinator will record your weight but will not share your weight information with you. The study coordinator will discourage you from thinking or talking about your weight.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Jamal Essayli, Ph.D · Penn State University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
12 Years
Max Age
24 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-10-31
Primary Completion
2026-06-30
Completion
2026-06-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

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 NCT06085092 on ClinicalTrials.gov