ACT for Carers of People With Dementia

NCT02991183 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: GN16MH672
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 18
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Background: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a therapy that helps people to notice and accept difficult thoughts and emotions. ACT also helps people to identify what they value in life (e.g. a good relationship with their partner) and make changes to their behaviour to promote these values. Carers of people with dementia may experience reduced wellbeing associated with their role. Those whose wellbeing is greater than previously are said to be 'flourishing'. Aim: The aim of this feasibility study is to evaluate the potential value of ACT as a group intervention for carers of people with dementia. Methods: Participants will include adult carers of people with dementia. Study participants will be identified from two older people community mental health teams. Informed consent will be sought prior to group invitations being sent out. There will be two groups in total (12 in each group) and both groups will attend three 2.5 hour sessions of ACT. All participants will complete questionnaires at the beginning and 21 days later (asking questions about their thoughts and feelings, flourishing and about being a carer). Eight group participants will be invited to a focus group to understand what they found more helpful and less helpful. Applications: Results from this study will potentially provide useful information to enable a further study with more participants to be conducted. The outcomes of this study will be shared with older people community mental health teams, dementia and carer specialist groups and potentially published in a relevant journal.

Conditions

Dementia

Keywords

Caregivers; Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Number of participants recruited and retained to study completion

  4 weeks

• Well-being

  Change in score from Mental Health Continuum Short Form questionnaire

  Time 0 and week 4

• Acceptability

  Qualitative responses to Acceptability questionnaire devised by research team

  4 weeks

• Fidelity

  Fidelity of the intervention to the ACT approach (measure developed by research team)

  4 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Psychological Flexibility

  Time 0 and week 4

• Psychological Flexibility in Caregivers

  Time 0 and week 4

• Caregiver Burden

  Time 0 and week 4

Study Arms (1)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

EXPERIMENTAL

Two half day (2.5 hours) group ACT sessions delivered one week apart followed by a third session 2 weeks following the second session.

Behavioral: ACT

Interventions

ACT BEHAVIORAL

A psychological therapy to help people i) notice and accept difficult thoughts and emotions; ii) identify what they value in life and iii) make changes to their behaviour to promote these values.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 116 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• carers of people with a diagnosis of any type of dementia
• primary caregiver of the person with dementia for 3 months or more
• informed consent
• adequate English language skills

You may not qualify if:

• receiving any type of concurrent psychotherapy
• diagnosis of a severe or acute mental health problem (such as psychosis, anxiety, depression) when consent to participate is sought

Sponsors & Collaborators

• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde: lead
• University of Glasgow: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Dementia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Hamish McLeod, PhD

  University of Glasgow

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 2, 2016
• First Posted: December 13, 2016
• Study Start: February 17, 2017
• Primary Completion: April 21, 2017
• Study Completion: August 17, 2017
• Last Updated: August 22, 2017

Record last verified: 2016-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)