Our current research is primarily focused on harnessing technology for the prevention and treatment of mental health problems, mental health screening, and training in evidence-based treatments, with a specific focus on eating disorders. Ultimately, our work aims to disseminate interventions from research to practice as well as to extend treatments in ways that will reach the 80% of people in need of care for eating disorders but who never receive services. Please note that the sections below represent a selection of our current projects and do not encompass every project that Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft or the lab is involved with. For a complete list of our research papers, please see our Publications.
Teen Chatbot Study
The peak age of eating disorders is in adolescence, and preventing these problems is critical, as eating disorders can become chronic and are also highly comorbid with other psychiatric disorders. In this project, we will use user-centered design to adapt the team’s existing chatbot for eating disorders prevention to better address the unique needs of diverse adolescents and then evaluate the adapted intervention in a randomized controlled trial. This study is currently recruiting teens 13-17 years old.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as PI on this study. Collaborators include Dr. Lauren Fowler (Co-I).
Funding: Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation: Transformation of Mental Health Care grant
Body U Teens
Body U Teens is a state-wide program providing eating disorder screening and a suite of evidence-based digital programs for eating disorder prevention and treatment to middle and high school students in Missouri. The program is adapted from the original Body U program established in 2010, which offers preventive and guided/unguided self-help interventions to adults in Missouri following a brief eating disorders screen. We are currently recruiting Missouri public and private schools to participate in this program. To learn more about how Body U Teens works or for information on how to enroll your school in this program, visit the Body U Teens website here.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as MPI on this program evaluation. Collaborators include Dr. Denise Wilfley (MPI), Dr. Patty Cavazos-Rehg (Co-I), and Dr. Daphne Lew (Co-I).
Funding: The Office on Women’s Health; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: ASTWH220112-01-00
Changing Attitudes, baLance, and Mindfulness for Eating Disorders (CALM-ED)
The overarching goal of CALM-ED is to refine and test an online evidence-based intervention for eating disorders among adults with public insurance or who are uninsured, a group that is currently greatly underserved in access to eating disorders treatment. In this project, we will first conduct a needs assessment and adapt the intervention for this population. We will then evaluate the adapted intervention in an open pilot trial. Recruitment for this study is now complete.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as MPI on this study. Collaborators include Dr. Erin Accurso (MPI).
Funding: National Eating Disorders Association: Feeding Hope Fund
Helping HAND
The goal of the Helping HAND (Healing Anorexia Nervosa Digitally) study is to develop and pilot a coached, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-based mobile app for women with anorexia nervosa (AN) to use in the post-acute treatment period. Relapse following acute treatment for AN is common. Evidence suggests CBT may be useful in the post-acute period, but few patients have access to trained providers. The aims of this project are to develop the intervention using user-centered design (see our published paper on said user-centered design here) and then to evaluate its effects in a pilot randomized controlled trial. To learn more about the study design, see our published protocol paper. Recruitment for this study is now complete.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as PI on this study. Collaborators include Dr. Denise Wilfley (Co-I), Dr. Kathy Pike (Co-I), and the late Dr. C. Barr Taylor (Co-I).
Funding: National Institute of Mental Health: R34MH127203
Eating Disorders Services Use Chatbot
The aim of Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft’s career development award is to develop a chatbot for increasing mental health services use following eating disorders screening, and optimize the chatbot intervention further via an optimization randomized controlled trial (to learn more about the development of the chatbot, read the published user-centered design article here). A brief digital tool such as a chatbot could help increase use of services following screening and ultimately lessen the wide treatment gap for eating disorders, as less than 20% of individuals with eating disorders ever receive treatment. Recruitment for this study is now complete.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as PI on this study.
Funding: National Institute of Mental Health: K08 MH120341
Leveraging Social Media to Provide Care to Teens with Eating Disorders
Eating disorder symptoms often emerge in adolescence, and early recognition and treatment of these illnesses are needed to prevent long-term consequences and a chronic course. Due to major barriers to access and to the delivery of treatment for teens with eating disorders, there is a need for a new model of service delivery that can identify and help this at-risk population. The purpose of this study is to adapt and refine a guided self-help CBT-based mobile app previously evaluated in college students for use in a teen population. We will evaluate the effectiveness of an app in a randomized controlled trial, examining effect on eating disorder symptoms, quality of life, and uptake of care. We will also examine the effect of an adjunctive social networking component on study outcomes.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as Co-I on this study. Collaborators include Dr. Patty Cavazos-Rehg (MPI), Dr. Denise Wilfley (MPI), and the late Dr. C. Barr Taylor (Co-I).
Funding: National Institute of Mental Health: R34MH119170
Anxiety, Image, and Mood (iAIM) Study
The purpose of the iAIM study is to evaluate the impact of a transdiagnostic, low-cost mobile mental health targeted prevention and intervention platform that uses population-level screening for engaging college students in tailored services that address their most common mental health problems. We will test the impact of this mobile mental health platform for service delivery in a large-scale trial across 25+ colleges. Students who screen positive or at high-risk for clinical anxiety, depression, or an eating disorder and who are not currently engaged in mental health services will be randomly assigned to intervention via the mobile mental health platform or referral to usual care (i.e., campus health or counseling center).
We will test whether the mobile mental health platform, compared to referral, is associated with improved uptake of services, reduced clinical cases, disorder-specific symptoms, and improved quality of life and functioning. We will also test stakeholder-relevant outcomes, including cost-effectiveness. To learn more about the study design, see our published protocol paper. Recruitment for this study is now complete.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as Co-I on this study. Collaborators include Dr. Denise Wilfley (MPI), Michelle Newman (MPI), Dr. Daniel Eisenberg (MPI), and the late Dr. C. Barr Taylor (MPI).
Funding: National Institute of Mental Health: R01MH115128
Digital Platform for Providers + Clients With Eating Disorders
Access to high-quality, evidence-based care for eating disorders is especially limited in community mental health settings and rural areas, and scalable, sustainable methods for training and providing ongoing support to providers are needed to substantially increase the number of providers delivering quality, evidence-based care for eating disorders. The goal of this study is to develop a novel “all-in-one” online platform for both disseminating training for providers and aiding in treatment implementation. The platform was designed using a user-centered design approach, and pilot data was collected on feasibility of the platform at both the provider and patient levels. Recruitment for this study is now complete.
Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft serves as PI on this study. Collaborators include Dr. Denise Wilfley (Co-I).
Funding: WUSTL Center for Dissemination and Implementation: CDI_2020-04-PG