ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03405077Updated Mar 28, 2019

Interpersonal Psychotherapy Online Training Study

An interventional study of IPT Online Training in Eating Disorder, sponsored by Washington University School of Medicine. Completed. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-03-28.

Sponsored by Washington University School of Medicine · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 1 year 11 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2016, registered Dec 2017).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
43
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is an evidence-based therapy for the treatment of eating disorders (including binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and disordered eating not meeting full diagnostic criteria). On a basic level, IPT is a time-limited treatment that helps the client understand the relationship between symptoms and social interactions. Traditional training methods require substantial cost, time, and resources, making evidence-based treatments difficult to disseminate. As such, college clinicians are not typically trained in IPT delivery, which prevents their clients from reaping the potential benefits of treatment. This study will attempt to show how technology can overcome such barriers to training dissemination.

The purpose of this study is to see if online training in IPT is as effective as in-person training. To find out, the following procedures will occur: First, college mental health clinicians will complete baseline online questionnaires and deliver their usual treatment to 1 or 2 clients with symptoms of eating disorders. Then, they will complete the guided online training program and post-training assessments. Next, they will treat 1 or 2 different clients with eating disorders and complete post-training assessments. As part of the baseline and post-training assessments, clinicians will complete a telephone-based simulation assessment with staff raters, in which the investigators will recreate a client session and rate how well the clinicians adhere to IPT in treating the simulated client. The guided on-line training program will ultimately be compared to the "gold standard" training (the group receiving in-person training in an associated, IRB-approved study, # 201111113).

02

Conditions studied

  • Eating Disorder

Keywords

  • interpersonal psychotherapy
  • treatment
  • training
  • dissemination and implementation
  • eating disorders
03

In context

Feeding and Eating Disorders

753 studies on the registry are indexed under Feeding and Eating Disorders; 160 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 43 is below the median of 74 across 551 interventional studies indexed under Feeding and Eating Disorders.

Browse Feeding and Eating Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Washington University School of Medicine is the lead sponsor of 1,795 studies on the registry; 271 are open to participants now.

Of its 330 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 216 (65%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Eligibility criteria

THERAPISTS:

Inclusion criteria:

  • Therapist must be a staff member at the counseling center and have a patient case-load large enough to be able to complete data collection at the different time points (>8 hours/week)
  • Staff member is expected to continue working at the counseling center for several years • Postdocs who anticipate to be at their center for at least one year are eligible

Exclusion criteria:

  • Therapists from all universities affiliated with the NIH-funded trial (IRB# 201111113)
  • Therapists working less than 8 hours/week
  • Therapists who are anticipating leaving employment at the recruited counseling center within the time frame of the study including, but not limited to trainees and interns
  • Therapists for whom their administrative duties preclude seeing a sufficient number of clients to be able to complete data collection at the different study time points
  • Therapists who do not see students seeking treatment for eating disorders
  • Individuals who are non-degreed trainees (i.e., psychology interns)

STUDENTS:

Inclusion criteria:

  • Student patients of therapists who seek counseling services at their respective schools
  • Students exhibiting symptoms of an eating disorder

Exclusion criteria:

  • Students exhibiting symptoms of anorexia nervosa
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
43 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    IPT Online Training

    Therapists in this study will be trained in IPT using an online platform. The program is self-paced but will have a deadline; the suggested pace is at least 12 hours spaced over 2 months. The guided online training program was developed in collaboration with 3C institute, an award-winning research and development company that creates web- and evidence-based programs. Content will be adapted from "gold-standard" training.

    Behavioral: IPT Online Training

Interventions

  • BehavioralIPT Online Training

    First, college mental health clinicians will complete baseline online questionnaires and deliver their usual treatment to 1 or 2 clients with symptoms of eating disorders. Then, they will complete the guided online training program and post-training assessments. Next, they will treat 1 or 2 different clients with eating disorders and complete post-training assessments. As part of the baseline and post-training assessments, clinicians will complete a telephone-based simulation assessment with staff raters, in which the investigators will recreate a client session and rate how well the clinicians adhere to IPT in treating the simulated client. The guided on-line training program will ultimately be compared to the "gold standard" training.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Treatment fidelity: Adherence

    Therapist's adherence to the procedures of IPT. This will be assessed using the IPT Fidelity Assessment. This scale was developed for the current study and was informed by work done by the Veterans' Health Administration, previous work conducted by the Principal Investigators of the current trial, and by other IPT researchers training therapists to conduct evidence-based treatments.

    Time frame: 1-3 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Treatment fidelity: Competence

    Therapist's level of competence in applying the procedures of IPT. This will be assessed using the IPT Fidelity Assessment. This scale was developed for the current study and was informed by work done by the Veterans' Health Administration, previous work conducted by the Principal Investigators of the current trial, and by other IPT researchers training therapists to conduct evidence-based treatments.

    Time frame: 1-3 years

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Jan 2016 to primary completion in Feb 2019, 37 months.

Of 305 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Feeding and Eating Disorders, half reached primary completion within 25 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 46. This study's 37 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 311 studies reached it within 25 months; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 45.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Dec 12, 2017
First posted
Jan 19, 2018
StartActual
Jan 2016
Primary completionActual
Feb 26, 2019
CompletionActual
Feb 26, 2019
Last update
Mar 28, 2019
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 28, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03405077
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 19, 2018
Start date
Jan 2016
Primary completion
Feb 26, 2019
Completion
Feb 26, 2019
Last update
Mar 28, 2019

Study contacts

Denise Wilfley, PhD
principal investigator · Scott Rudolph University Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, Pediatrics, and Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine
Terry Wilson, PhD
study director · Oscar K. Buros Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University
Stewart Agras, MD
study director · Professor of Psychiatry (Emeritus), Stanford University, School of Medicine

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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