Abstract Background Digital interventions have the potential to enhance treatment for eating disorders. Yet research remains limited, especially among adolescents. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a therapist-guided digital treatment for adolescents with subthreshold eating disorders was feasible within routine clinical care. The primary objectives of the trial were to evaluate the acceptability, adherence, and preliminary effectiveness of the novel intervention. Methods An open feasibility trial of a novel digital treatment was conducted within routine clinical care. Participants were adolescents aged 15–18 years with subthreshold eating disorders. Acceptability was assessed among the adolescents during and post treatment, adherence was evaluated through engagement with treatment modules and dropout, whereas preliminary effectiveness was assessed by examining positive and negative symptoms change from pre to post treatment. Primary clinical outcomes included eating disorder symptomatology and psychosocial impairment, whereas secondary outcomes were quality of life, emotion dysregulation, depression, and anxiety. Results A total of 24 adolescent girls participated in the digital treatment. The mean age was 16 years (range: 15–18, SD: 0.78). The findings suggest that the treatment was feasible, with favourable acceptability ratings and satisfactory adherence. The linear mixed model analyses showed significant improvement in eating disorder symptomatology and social impairment. Non-significant improvements were observed for the secondary clinical outcomes. Importantly, no serious negative effects were reported. Conclusions The findings suggest that the therapist-guided digital treatment for adolescents with subthreshold eating disorders is both acceptable and well tolerated within routine clinical care, underscoring the potential of digital approaches to effectively complement existing treatment care. Trial registration : ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT06306586. Approved: 05.03.2024. Available online: 12.03.2024.
Holgersen et al. (Thu,) studied this question.