{"id":{"repo_id":"wlv","oai_identifier":"oai:wlv.openrepository.com:2436/625765"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/wlv/oai:wlv.openrepository.com:2436/625765","repository":{"repo_id":"wlv","name":"University of Wolverhampton","base_url":"https://wlv.openrepository.com/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Comparing guided self-help and self-help acceptance and commitment therapy skills-based internet intervention to manage food cravings: a pilot feasibility study","abstract":"Background: Managing food cravings poses a substantial challenge when it comes to dietary control or transitioning to a healthier eating regimen. Furthermore, these cravings often lead to premature discontinuation of weight-loss programmes. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has emerged as an inspiring approach to managing food cravings. A novel direction was to evaluate an ACT based internet intervention for food cravings. Design/method: This mixed methods pilot study was designed to investigate the acceptability and effectiveness of a 3-week ACT based online intervention for food cravings. Thirty participants from the community were randomly assigned to either a) a self-help delivery method or b) a guided self-help method, where remote support was provided by the researcher. Psychological flexibility, emotional eating and food cravings were measured by validated questionnaires at pre, post and at 1 month follow-up, where participants partook in a semi-structured feedback interview. Results: Many of the participants found the internet intervention acceptable and had a positive experience. Analyses were run with baseline and post scores only, due to participant attrition at follow up. Significant differences between pre and post intervention were found for the following: an increase in psychological flexibility (F (1,28) = 26.67, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.49); a decrease in both emotional eating (F (1,28) = 12.93, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.32) and self-reported frequency of food cravings (F (1,28) = 8.045, p = .008, ƞ2 = 0.22). No significant effect was observed between the different delivery method (self-help versus guided self-help). Discussion/Conclusion: This study’s findings tentatively indicated that an ACT based internet intervention was effective for managing food cravings, regardless of delivery method. This pilot has the potential to inform the design a larger scale study to determine its longer-term effectiveness.","abstract_html":"Background: Managing food cravings poses a substantial challenge when it comes to dietary control or transitioning to a healthier eating regimen. Furthermore, these cravings often lead to premature discontinuation of weight-loss programmes. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has emerged as an inspiring approach to managing food cravings. A novel direction was to evaluate an ACT based internet intervention for food cravings. Design/method: This mixed methods pilot study was designed to investigate the acceptability and effectiveness of a 3-week ACT based online intervention for food cravings. Thirty participants from the community were randomly assigned to either a) a self-help delivery method or b) a guided self-help method, where remote support was provided by the researcher. Psychological flexibility, emotional eating and food cravings were measured by validated questionnaires at pre, post and at 1 month follow-up, where participants partook in a semi-structured feedback interview. Results: Many of the participants found the internet intervention acceptable and had a positive experience. Analyses were run with baseline and post scores only, due to participant attrition at follow up. Significant differences between pre and post intervention were found for the following: an increase in psychological flexibility (F (1,28) = 26.67, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.49); a decrease in both emotional eating (F (1,28) = 12.93, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.32) and self-reported frequency of food cravings (F (1,28) = 8.045, p = .008, ƞ2 = 0.22). No significant effect was observed between the different delivery method (self-help versus guided self-help). Discussion/Conclusion: This study’s findings tentatively indicated that an ACT based internet intervention was effective for managing food cravings, regardless of delivery method. This pilot has the potential to inform the design a larger scale study to determine its longer-term effectiveness.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Pollard, Lorraine"],"institution":"University of Wolverhampton","degree_name":"Professional Doctorate","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Nicholls, Wendy","Lloyd, Joanne"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024","date_published":"2024","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:10:16Z","subjects":["acceptance and commitment therapy","food cravings","Internet use","pilot","intervention","guided self-help","self-help"],"languages":[],"rights":["Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International"],"rights_urls":["https://wlv.dspace7.openrepository.com/bitstreams/eb518fcf-0a2f-448b-bec1-f9c3e720342b/download"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Nicholls, Wendy","Lloyd, Joanne"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Pollard, Lorraine"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2024"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Wolverhampton"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2436/625765"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis or dissertation"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Professional Doctorate"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["acceptance and commitment therapy","food cravings","Internet use","pilot","intervention","guided self-help","self-help"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://wlv.dspace7.openrepository.com/bitstreams/eb518fcf-0a2f-448b-bec1-f9c3e720342b/download","Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://wlv.dspace7.openrepository.com/bitstreams/65ddc3e9-0421-4add-a4ff-98afddb899bf/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Background: Managing food cravings poses a substantial challenge when it comes to dietary control or transitioning to a healthier eating regimen. Furthermore, these cravings often lead to premature discontinuation of weight-loss programmes. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has emerged as an inspiring approach to managing food cravings. A novel direction was to evaluate an ACT based internet intervention for food cravings. Design/method: This mixed methods pilot study was designed to investigate the acceptability and effectiveness of a 3-week ACT based online intervention for food cravings. Thirty participants from the community were randomly assigned to either a) a self-help delivery method or b) a guided self-help method, where remote support was provided by the researcher. Psychological flexibility, emotional eating and food cravings were measured by validated questionnaires at pre, post and at 1 month follow-up, where participants partook in a semi-structured feedback interview. Results: Many of the participants found the internet intervention acceptable and had a positive experience. Analyses were run with baseline and post scores only, due to participant attrition at follow up. Significant differences between pre and post intervention were found for the following: an increase in psychological flexibility (F (1,28) = 26.67, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.49); a decrease in both emotional eating (F (1,28) = 12.93, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.32) and self-reported frequency of food cravings (F (1,28) = 8.045, p = .008, ƞ2 = 0.22). No significant effect was observed between the different delivery method (self-help versus guided self-help). Discussion/Conclusion: This study’s findings tentatively indicated that an ACT based internet intervention was effective for managing food cravings, regardless of delivery method. This pilot has the potential to inform the design a larger scale study to determine its longer-term effectiveness."]},{"key":"dc:format.checksum.md5","label":"Dc Format Checksum Md5","values":["252f8d97472dee66cd64d67b572259f2","9ef84114a6e8d4042c6831b843640b6e","8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Comparing guided self-help and self-help acceptance and commitment therapy skills-based internet intervention to manage food cravings: a pilot feasibility study"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Nicholls, Wendy","Lloyd, Joanne"],"dc:creator":["Pollard, Lorraine"],"dc:date.issued":["2024"],"dc:description.abstract":["Background: Managing food cravings poses a substantial challenge when it comes to dietary control or transitioning to a healthier eating regimen. Furthermore, these cravings often lead to premature discontinuation of weight-loss programmes. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has emerged as an inspiring approach to managing food cravings. A novel direction was to evaluate an ACT based internet intervention for food cravings. Design/method: This mixed methods pilot study was designed to investigate the acceptability and effectiveness of a 3-week ACT based online intervention for food cravings. Thirty participants from the community were randomly assigned to either a) a self-help delivery method or b) a guided self-help method, where remote support was provided by the researcher. Psychological flexibility, emotional eating and food cravings were measured by validated questionnaires at pre, post and at 1 month follow-up, where participants partook in a semi-structured feedback interview. Results: Many of the participants found the internet intervention acceptable and had a positive experience. Analyses were run with baseline and post scores only, due to participant attrition at follow up. Significant differences between pre and post intervention were found for the following: an increase in psychological flexibility (F (1,28) = 26.67, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.49); a decrease in both emotional eating (F (1,28) = 12.93, p = .001, ƞ2 = 0.32) and self-reported frequency of food cravings (F (1,28) = 8.045, p = .008, ƞ2 = 0.22). No significant effect was observed between the different delivery method (self-help versus guided self-help). Discussion/Conclusion: This study’s findings tentatively indicated that an ACT based internet intervention was effective for managing food cravings, regardless of delivery method. 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