Patient use of a self‐monitoring app during eating disorder treatment: Naturalistic longitudinal cohort study

Abstract

Abstract Objective To explore patients’ use of the self‐monitoring app Recovery Record during 26 weeks of naturalistic eating disorder treatment. Methods Selected patient characteristics at baseline were explored as predictors of app use using linear regression. Patients were grouped according to diagnosis (anorexia versus bulimia), and mixed‐effects analyses were used to explore differences in app use between diagnoses across four time periods (weeks 1–4; weeks 5–8; weeks 9–12; weeks 13–26). Results Eighty‐four patients were included of which 41 had anorexia and 43 had bulimia. The total number of logs varied greatly (mean (SD): 592 (628.50)), and patient app activity almost ceased at week 13. Increasing age and no previous eating disorder treatment predicted increased app activity (p = .007; p = .039, respectively). Patients with anorexia logged over four times more often than patients with bulimia in the last time period (median (CI): 4.27 (1.28;14.31); p = .018). Time predicted declining app use (all p ≤ .007). Conclusion Future research on long‐term app engagement should investigate associations between patients’ app use and changes in their eating disorder symptom severity over time.

Keywords

• eating disorders; smartphone; anorexia; bulimia