Feasibility randomised controlled trial of a self-help acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for grief and psychological distress in carers of palliative care patients

Abstract

We tested the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an acceptance and commitment therapy self-help intervention for grief and psychological distress in carers of patients in palliative care. Carers were randomised to the control group, which received treatment as usual, or the intervention group, which received treatment as usual plus an acceptance and commitment therapy-based self-help booklet and telephone support call. Questionnaires were completed at baseline, 1-month post-allocation and 6 months post-loss. Results indicated that the intervention was generally feasible and viewed as acceptable to carers. Preliminary effectiveness analyses showed at least a small effect in acceptance, valued-living, grief and psychological distress.

<p>Efficacy Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Emotional Distress In The Elderly With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial</p>

“…The level of diabetes-related emotional distress in the present study was consistent with the results of the studies by Polonsky et al 31 Alvani et al 33 and Chew et al 34 The diabetes-related emotional distress mean score was reduced after the intervention in the intervention group and this indicates that the ACT-based intervention has had a positive impact on diabetes-related emotional distress. Zucchelli et al, 35 Davis et al, 36 Rahnama et al 37 , Molander et al 38 and Boostani et al 39 have obtained similar results in their studies with the aim of exploring the impact of ACT on emotional distress and psychological distress in other patient.…”

Acceptance and commitment therapy for family caregivers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The included seven studies with a control group, including 6 RCTs plus one nonrandomized control group pretest-posttest design study (i.e. Corti et al., 2018), tested the effects of ACT interventions on stress of family caregivers, compared to either a treatment as usual control group (four studies including Brown et al., 2015; Davis et al., 2020; Sairanen et al., 2019; Whittingham et al., 2016) or an attention control group providing education or an early intensive behavioral intervention (three studies including Chong et al., 2019; Corti et al., 2018; Mosher et al., 2019). Participants involved parents of children with chronic conditions ( n = 5) and family caregivers of people with advanced cancer or in palliative care ( n = 2).…”

“…Participants involved parents of children with chronic conditions ( n = 5) and family caregivers of people with advanced cancer or in palliative care ( n = 2). ACT interventions were delivered in a group format ( n = 4; Brown et al., 2015; Chong et al., 2019; Corti et al., 2018; Whittingham et al., 2016) or individually ( n = 3; Davis et al., 2020; Mosher et al., 2019; Sairanen et al., 2019). Of the seven studies, ACT interventions were delivered as face-to-face sessions ( n = 4), telephone sessions (Mosher et al., 2019), online sessions guided by a personal coach (Sairanen et al., 2019), or using self-help booklets with minimal telephone support by a trained clinician (Davis et al., 2020).…”

“…ACT interventions were delivered in a group format ( n = 4; Brown et al., 2015; Chong et al., 2019; Corti et al., 2018; Whittingham et al., 2016) or individually ( n = 3; Davis et al., 2020; Mosher et al., 2019; Sairanen et al., 2019). Of the seven studies, ACT interventions were delivered as face-to-face sessions ( n = 4), telephone sessions (Mosher et al., 2019), online sessions guided by a personal coach (Sairanen et al., 2019), or using self-help booklets with minimal telephone support by a trained clinician (Davis et al., 2020). These studies involved two ACT sessions (Brown et al., 2015; Whittingham et al., 2016), four ACT sessions (Chong et al., 2019), six ACT sessions (Mosher et al., 2019), 10 ACT sessions (Sairanen et al., 2019), and 12 ACT sessions including booster sessions (Corti et al., 2018).…”

Factors Associated with Family Caregivers' Confidence in Future Surrogate Decision Making for Persons with Cancer

“…Efforts to enhance family caregivers' adaptive coping skills may be a promising avenue of optimizing their decision-making skills. Interventions to reduce avoidant coping might be aimed at the acknowledgment and expression of emotions, such as acceptance and commitment therapy, 42 which might thereby increase the caregiver's confidence to participate in discussions with the care recipient about future medical care.…”