Carrière Kimberly, Siemers Nellie, Thapar Serena, Knäuper Bärbel
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Mhealth. 2024 Jun 3;10:24. doi: 10.21037/mhealth-23-56. eCollection 2024.
Over fifty percent of individuals with overweight and obesity are emotional eaters. Emotional eating can be theorized as a conditioned response to eat for reasons that are not associated with physiological hunger. We conducted this proof-of-concept study to gather evidence that a mobile app that delivers a common non-meditative mindfulness exercise called RAIN, in a step-by-step image sequence can improve emotional eating and other outcomes over a 3-week period.
Forty-nine Canadian adults who self reported as emotional eaters (mean age =30.7 years) were recruited through social media and participated in a workshop in which RAIN and its use on the app were introduced. Participants were asked to use the app every time that they experienced a non-homeostatic craving to eat for three weeks. Emotional eating, reactivity to food cravings, perceived loss of control around food, distress tolerance, and eating-specific mindfulness were assessed pre- and post-intervention.
Improvements on all outcomes were found (r-range, -0.58 to -0.28). The feasibility of the mobile application was demonstrated by a low attrition rate (8%), high user satisfaction, and strong app engagement metrics.
The data provide proof-of-concept evidence that a mobile app that delivers a mindfulness exercise in a step-by-step image sequence has potential to be effective and thus identifies a new approach that may reduce emotional eating in an accessible and affordable manner.
超过半数的超重和肥胖个体存在情绪化进食问题。情绪化进食可被理论化为一种条件反应，即出于与生理饥饿无关的原因而进食。我们开展了这项概念验证研究，以收集证据证明一款移动应用程序，该程序以逐步的图像序列提供一种名为RAIN的常见非冥想正念练习，在为期3周的时间内可以改善情绪化进食及其他结果。
通过社交媒体招募了49名自我报告为情绪化进食者的加拿大成年人（平均年龄=30.7岁），他们参加了一个工作坊，在该工作坊中介绍了RAIN及其在应用程序上的使用方法。参与者被要求在三周内每当他们经历非稳态的进食渴望时就使用该应用程序。在干预前后评估情绪化进食、对食物渴望的反应性、在食物周围感知到的失控感、痛苦耐受力以及特定于饮食的正念。
所有结果均有改善（相关系数范围为-0.58至-0.28）。移动应用程序的可行性通过低损耗率（8%）、高用户满意度和强大的应用程序参与度指标得以证明。
数据提供了概念验证证据，表明一款以逐步图像序列提供正念练习的移动应用程序有可能有效，从而确定了一种新的方法，该方法可能以可及且经济实惠的方式减少情绪化进食。
