Outcomes of Self-Guided Help Binge Eating Pilot with Client Insights
This 12-week self-guided binge eating intervention significantly reduced binge eating behaviours in individuals with obesity, as measured by the Binge Eating Scale. Participants also experienced steady, meaningful weight loss following programme completion.
Outcomes of Self-Guided Help Binge Eating Pilot with Client Insights
Dr AB Sirin-Ayva, Matt Buckley, James Roast, Dr Sophie Edwards
Introduction
Individuals living with obesity have higher binge eating behaviours compared to others (Joshi, Graziani & Del-monte, 2024). Binge eating behaviours prevent individuals from creating regular and healthier eating habits to manage their weights. Behaviour change informed weight management programmes can be triggering for people with binge eating behaviours.
Morelife, is a healthy lifestyle provider across the UK, offers weight management programmes to local residents funded by Integrated Care Boards. Morelife piloted a Binge Eating Intervention started in September 2021 and continued until late 2023. The aim of this pilot was to provide a binge eating intervention prior to starting the main weight management intervention to ascertain whether this improves client outcomes on their disordered binge eating.
Methods
The Binge Eating intervention is a 12-week, guided self-help programme that is compliant with NICE guidelines and consists of individuals working through a manual alongside seven telephone support sessions from their trained guide. Once clients complete the Binge Eating Intervention, they then enter Morelife’s standard one-year weight management intervention. Binge Eating Scale (BES) was used to screen clients for this pilot.
The (BES) is a 16-item self-report instrument designed to evaluate the presence and behavioural manifestations of binge-eating disorder (BED) (Gormally et al., 1982), scores ranging between 0 to 46. Clients are classified as having no binge eating (score ≤ 17), mild to moderate binge eating (score of 18 – 26) and severe binge eating (score ≥ 27) based on their scores. Those clients who scored 27 or above were offered the binge eating intervention prior to starting our standard weight management intervention. The clients who completed this 12-week Self-Guided Binge Eating pilot repeated the BES to compare their results after completing the programme.
Results
Between September 2022 and December 2023, 44 clients completed the Self Guided Help Binge Eating Programme (SGHBEP). The average BED score was 34.25 before the programme whereas it reduced to 22.9 at the end of 12-week programme.
7 clients dropped out before weight management support started (2 of them fall ineligible, 5 of them lost contact).
The retention rate reduced towards the 12-month point. The main reasons are;
- Clients feeling satisfied with the support they received, not needing any further support
- Clients falling ineligibility criteria (either postcode, medical or psychological conditions required additional &external support)
- Clients who lost contact
This is a significant reduction in their binge eating scores. Following the completion of the Guided Self-Help Programme, the clients attended Morelife’s standard one-year weight management programme. 38 clients completed the 12-week healthy lifestyle programme with an average weight loss of 3.18 kg (2.51% reduction from their initial weight).
At the 6-month point, the average weight loss was 8.41 kg (n=28, 6.40% reduction from their initial weight), whereas at 12 months, the average weight loss was 11.29 kg (n=15, 8.19% reduction from their initial weight).
Conclusion
Self-Guided Binge Eating programme is effective on reducing binge eating scores for people living with obesity. The weight loss followed steadily but significantly after completion of the programme.
References:
- Joshi, V., Graziani, P., & Del-Monte, J. (2024). Interoceptive sensibility, intuitive eating, binge, and disordered eating behavior among individuals with obesity: A comparative study with the general population. Journal of Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053241237900
- Gormally J, Black S, Daston S, Rardin D. The assessment of binge eating severity among obese persons. Addict Behav. 1982;7(1):47-55. doi: 10.1016/0306-4603(82)90024-7. PMID: 7080884.