AN IDEA WORTH RESEARCHING Sensor technology implementation for research, treatment, and assessment of eating disorders Cheri A. Levinson PhD | Caroline Christian BS | Shruti Shankar-Ram BA | Leigh C. Brosof MS | Brenna Williams BA Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky Correspondence Cheri A. Levinson, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, KY. Email: cheri.levinson@louisville.edu Abstract Sensor technology has made huge technological advances in the past decade. Many sensor technologies (e.g., wearable wristbands) have been integrated into health research with the ability to substantially improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs. Despite the rapid technological developments in sensor technology, little research has examined sensor technology in eating disorders (EDs). The overarching aim of the current article is to briefly review the literature on sensor technology and health outcomes, including EDs, and discuss several potential ideas for the applica- tion of sensor technology in the treatment, assessment, and diagnosis of EDs. We will also present data from a feasibility case study with an ED participant and healthy control providing a brief example of how wearable sensor technology might be implemented in ED research. Overall, we will discuss how sensor technology could be used to improve treatment and assessment of EDs and represents an idea in need of more research in the ED field. KEYWORDS sensor technology, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorders, health outcomes, technology 1 | INTRODUCTION Sensor technology (both wearable and nonwearable) has made huge technological advances in the past decade. Although assessment and treatment of physical and mental health conditions were previously restricted to laboratory or clinical environments, sensor technology allows for objective, real-time monitoring of behavior in a naturalistic setting. The increasing ease in collecting these data allows for detec- tion of behavioral patterns, with the potential to predict future behav- ior in “the real world,” which has implications for treatment and individualized care. Despite the rapid technological developments and application of sensor technology in other fields, little research has applied sensor technology to eating disorders (EDs). Ultimately our aims are to (a) show why sensor technology holds strong potential for the advancement of research, assessment, and treatment in the ED field and (b) discuss ideas for how the ED field might integrate sensor technology to advance the current state of ED research. 2 | WEARABLE AND NONWEARABLE SENSOR TECHNOLOGY DEFINITIONS Wearable sensors gather information primarily on physiological phe- nomena (e.g., heart rate and skin conductance), as well as movement or acceleration (for a review of these types of measurements and methods, please see Lymberis and Dittmar [2007]). These sensors can be worn on various parts of the body, such as the wrist, chest, or ankles, or can be integrated into clothing and accessories (e.g., glasses). In contrast, nonwearable sensors track environmental data (e.g., temperature) and detect movement (Ding, Cooper, Pasquina, & Fici-Pasquina, 2011). These sensors are typically installed Received: 9 January 2019 Revised: 23 May 2019 Accepted: 28 May 2019 DOI: 10.1002/eat.23120 Int J Eat Disord. 2019;1–5. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/eat © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1