Looking Ahead

Digital mental health, or mHealth, represents a new frontier for improving patient experience, especially in areas with low access to health care. Studies like BEST-U and STAR, as well as graduate student projects like HOPE, are currently utilizing mHealth to reach participants who might otherwise struggle in a more “traditional” health setting. We anticipate that our new partnership with ExpiWell, a premier digital experience sampling method, will allow us to create an even smoother and more effective digital experience for our study participants.

With the newest iteration of the BEST-U 3.0 study and our partnership with Watkins Health Services on KU’s campus, we are expanding the scope of our intervention materials. However, we do not want this to end with BEST-U! It is our goal to reach more community clinicians and equip them to provide interventions from multiple studies such as STAR and EPSI ChAT that our Center has developed and rigorously tested. Further, our team is partnering with KU's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and federally qualified health centers in Kansas on new research aimed at developing and refining mHealth treatments for individuals with disordered eating and sleep problems. These treatments will be built for and with non-specialty providers to increase access and reach of evidence-based care in the community.

Myths about whom eating disorders affect are highly prevalent in our society. People of all genders, races, and backgrounds are at risk of developing an eating disorder, but current assessment measures are not well-calibrated to detect and treat all individuals. We seek to expand what populations benefit from eating disorder assessment and research. Initiatives like the military study have improved assessment among cisgender men, while graduate student Sarah’s BELLA app is the first app culturally designed to address Latine women’s body image concerns. This work remains a forefront priority for our research team.

There is a need in our communities for better tools aimed at assessing eating disorder outcomes. We included an automated assessment component as part of our STAR study that we aim to scale up with an upcoming qualitative project. As part of this initiative, we will work with community providers to understand what assessment tools for routine outcomes monitoring is most desirable and effective.