Ecological momentary assessment to evaluate cognitive-behavioral treatment for binge eating disorder

Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for binge eating disorder (BED) is traditionally evaluated using clinical interviews and questionnaires. These retrospective assessment methods are discussed to be problematic due to memory recall error. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) might be promising for gathering ecologically valid and reliable data.

We assessed the feasibility of and reactivity to EMA and compared the treatment efficacy measured by traditional vs. EMA-based instruments in 28 BED individuals participating in short-term CBT.

Patients were highly compliant and we found no reactivity to EMA. Estimated treatment effects for binge eating based on EMA were comparable to questionnaire-based methods. The overall concordance between methods was moderate.

Results suggest that binge eating over 1 week can be equally accurately assessed by EMA or by self-report questionnaires in BED treatment trials. EMA contributes to a detailed knowledge of binge eating in daily live and helps to advance treatment options.