Advances in the prevention and early intervention of eating disorders: The potential of Internet-delivered approaches

This paper aims to outline specific challenges inherent to the prevention of eating disorders, to discuss how these might be addressed by Internet-based interventions, and to review currently available approaches. Furthermore, we introduce the European initiative ProYouth which aims at the implementation and dissemination of an Internet-based platform integrating prevention, early detection, and timely intervention related to eating disorders. Overall, the available literature indicates that only a few Internet-based approaches have been studied in the field of eating disorder prevention so far. Results concerning feasibility and acceptability are promising, but only limited evidence is available on efficacy and effectiveness.