A feasibility study exploring the impact of practising compassion-focused imagery exercises online on eating disorder symptomatology in a community sample

Many people with eating disorder symptoms (ED-symptoms) in the community may not access treatment due to personal reasons, such as ambivalence about recovery, or due to contextual factors, like limited service provisions. Current evidence-based treatments have been shown to be effective for only a proportion of people with ED-symptoms. Compassion Focused Therapy may help improve treatment outcomes for ED-symptoms. Specifically, self-compassion is proposed to address ED-behaviours by alleviating the high levels of self-criticism which are prevalent among those with ED-symptoms. This study conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of self-compassion interventions for ED-symptoms. Findings indicated growing evidence that self-compassion interventions might be beneficial to this population. Similarly, ‘light touch’ online self-compassion interventions showed promising results in the treatment of ED-symptoms. However, these findings are limited by high attrition rates. This evidence suggests that self-compassion interventions and online self-compassion interventions, such as CFI-online, may be an accessible, resource-efficient and beneficial intervention for adults in the community with ED-symptoms. However, the feasibility of CFI-online would need to be explored before conducting larger research in the area. To this end, this research utilised a mixed-methods design to explore the feasibility and acceptability of CFI-online for an adult community sample with ED-symptoms. Self-report measures and semi-structured interviews were used to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention, and to preliminarily evaluate the effects of CFI-online. Quantitative data were evaluated for statistical and clinically significant changes. Qualitative data were analysed using framework analysis. Triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data suggested that, overall, CFI-online is an acceptable and feasible intervention for this population, with some promising beneficial results. However, several limitations were noted, especially a high attrition rate. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed, and recommendations for future studies and the development of CFI-online for ED-symptoms are made.