Tele-BARICARE to Manage COVID-19-Related Distress (TELE-BARICARE)
Obesity, Bariatric Surgery Candidate, Mental Health Disorder
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Obesity focused on measuring Obesity, Bariatric Surgery, Mental Health, Disordered Eating, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Telephone Therapy
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- post-operative adult bariatric patients (men, women and gender diverse individuals)
- fluent in English
- have internet access to complete online questionnaires
- meet a threshold of ≥ 5 on the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-Item scale (PHQ-9)24, a measure of depressive symptoms, or ≥ 18 on the Binge Eating Scale (BES)26, a common measure of dysregulated eating in this patient population
Exclusion Criteria:
- current active suicidal ideation
- current poorly controlled medical illness or psychiatric illness that would render Tele-CBT very difficult (e.g., psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder)
- active COVID-19 infection as it may cause neuropsychiatric symptoms that impact treatment engagement and confound study outcomes
Sites / Locations
- The Ottawa Hospital - Civic CampusRecruiting
- Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences CentreRecruiting
- Humber River HospitalRecruiting
- Toronto Western HospitalRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Active Comparator
Tele-CBT Group
Self-Help Resources Group
Participants will receive 6 weekly Tele-CBT sessions and 1 final "booster" session 1 month later, all approximately 55-minutes in duration. Briefly, the Tele-CBT sessions focus on introducing the cognitive behavioural model of overeating and obesity, scheduling healthy meals and snacks, scheduling pleasurable alternative activities to overeating, identifying and planning for difficult eating scenarios, and problem solving and challenging negative thoughts. Participants are encouraged to complete CBT homework between sessions (i.e., completing food records, pleasurable activities and worksheets). Five clinical psychology graduate students will work as study therapists under the supervision of Drs. Cassin and Sockalingam and will have biweekly case supervision meetings.
Participants will be directed to the CAMH COVID-19 Self-Help webpage (www.camh.ca/covid19) to access coping tools to help with COVID-19 associated stress and anxiety, loss, grief and healing, stigma, and physical isolation. Participants in the control arm will receive weekly check-in/reminder emails for the duration of the intervention period.