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ACT for Distress in Head and Neck Cancer Patients

NCT02840071 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 3

Last updated 2016-07-21

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Title: Acceptance and Commitment therapy for Individuals with Head and Neck Cancer Experiencing Psychological Distress.

Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are particularly vulnerable to experiencing psychological distress . The current guidelines from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence are that cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is to be offered to adults with a long-term physical health condition experiencing anxiety and depression. CBT has been shown to have several inadequacies for individuals with physical health conditions such as cancer. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) takes an alternative approach to CBT, aiming to change a person's interaction with their thoughts rather than suppress or alter thought content. Although studies indicate encouraging findings for the effectiveness of ACT for individuals with breast cancer; the HNC- transfer-ability of findings is yet untested, and there is a need to evaluate the replicability of ACT effects in people living with HNC, given the unique challenges inherent to the disease and its treatment.

This study aims to inform clinical practise by using a hermeneutic single-case efficacy design (HSCED) to answer the following questions:

1. Is there evidence of psychological change after the introduction of the ACT intervention?
2. If present, are the changes attributable to (a) ACT components, (b) common factors, and/or (c) non-therapeutic factors?

The study will involve recruiting three adults with HNC from specialist HNC psychology services. Each participant will have six individual sessions of ACT and complete various process and outcome questionnaires during sessions. Following the intervention, participants will have a semi-structured interview where their views of the therapy and any changes made will be explored. Two outcome measures will be posted to participants at 1-month and 3-month post intervention.

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

Psychological therapy

Acceptance and commitment therapy is a third-wave cognitive behavioural therapy. The aim of ACT intervention is to increase a person's psychological flexibility by enabling them to change their relationship with distressing cognitions (acceptance) and doing things that are personally meaningful to them (commitment). The ACT model does not focus on distress reduction, although this is a secondary consequence of acceptance and commitment. This is targeted through the six core processes: present moment awareness, cognitive defusion, acceptance, self-as-context, values and committed action which means taking effective action, guided by the identified values. The intervention will involve six 1.5 hourly individual sessions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Nottingham

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Thomas Schroder, Psychology · University of Nottingham

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2016-10-31
Primary Completion
2017-03-31
Completion
2017-03-31

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02840071 on ClinicalTrials.gov