Virtual eating disorder support group utilization is associated with lower eating disorder symptoms and multiple types of social support.

Abstract

Support groups are a promising resource, but eating disorder (ED) support group research is scarce. This study aimed to examine associations between support group utilization, psychosocial health, and ED symptoms to guide future research on this resource. Participants (N = 494) were sampled from virtual, clinician-moderated ED support groups. Benjamini-Hochberg-corrected partial correlations tested associations of past-month attendance and participation frequency with measures of psychosocial health and ED symptoms. Participants additionally completed descriptive questions regarding perceived support group benefits. Adjusting for past-month ED treatment, more frequent support group participation was positively related to social companionship and emotional and informational support. More frequent attendance was negatively related to body dissatisfaction, binge eating, purging, restricting, excessive exercise, and negative attitudes toward obesity, but these associations were no longer significant after adjusting for psychosocial health variables. Descriptively, one-third to one-half of participants reported various positive changes from support group utilization. Utilizing and participating in clinician-moderated ED support groups could provide a low-burden outlet for ED symptom management, which may be due to provision of social support. Prospective examination of observed associations is a critical next step to investigate outcomes directly and build a testable model of group processual factors.