ArticleJournal of eating disorders2023
A randomised controlled feasibility study of food-related computerised attention training versus mindfulness training and waiting-list control for adults with overweight or obesity: the FOCUS study.
Article in Journal of eating disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Impact of Mindfulness Interventions upon Visual Attention and Attentional Bias Towards Food Cues: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of mindfulness-based interventions on obesogenic eating behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Mindfulness-based interventions for binge eating: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- The effects of waiting time for outpatient psychotherapeutic interventions on patient-reported outcomes in adolescents and adults with eating disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Review
- Exploring the association between hedonic hunger and obesogenic eating behaviors in females with overweight/obesity using machine learning methods.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A feasibility study of the effects of concurrent transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on mindfulness training in adults living with overweight or obesity: the MINDED trial protocol.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2026Article
- Decreasing attentional bias for food cues in satiated women with obesity: a pilot study examining feasibility and acceptability.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Attentional bias toward food in binge eating disorder: baseline differences and the limits of attention modification training.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Reward and Inhibitory Control as Mechanisms and Treatment Targets for Binge Eating Disorder.Current psychiatry reports · 2024Review
- Article
- The Absence of Attentional Bias to Low-Calorie Food Stimuli in Restrictive Dieters: Differences in the Allocation of Attentional Resources to High-Calorie Foods.Brain sciences · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn a feasibility randomised controlled trial in people with overweight/obesity with and without binge eating disorder (BED) symptoms, we assessed eight weekly sessions of attention bias modification training (ABMT) and mindfulness training (MT) versus waiting list (WL) and explored potential mechanisms.
methods45 participants were randomly allocated to one of three trial arms. Primary outcomes were recruitment, retention and treatment adherence rates. Secondary outcomes included measures of eating behaviour, mood, attention and treatment acceptability. Assessments were conducted at baseline, post-intervention (week 8), and follow-up (week 12).
resultsParticipant retention at follow-up was 84.5% across groups. Session completion rates in the laboratory were 87% for ABMT and 94% for MT, but home practice was much poorer for ABMT. Changes in BMI and body composition were small between groups and there was a medium size BMI reduction in the MT group at follow-up. Effect sizes of eating disorder symptom changes were not greater for either intervention group compared to WL, but favoured ABMT compared to MT. Hedonic hunger and mindful eating scores favoured MT compared to ABMT and WL. ABMT reduced attention biases towards high-calorie food cues, which correlated with lower objective binge eating days at post-intervention. No significant changes were observed in the MT, or WL conditions.
conclusionsBoth ABMT and MT have potential value as adjuncts in the treatment of obesity and BED, and a larger clinical trial appears feasible and indicated.
trial registrationISRCTN Registry, ISRCTN15745838. Registered on 22 May 2018.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.