Web-based ACT to Support Parents With Children With Chronic and Developmental Conditions

Summary

Parents of children with a chronic disease or functional disabilities have an increased risk of stress-related distress and reduced quality of life. Internet-delivered interventions are one way to reach out to exhausted parents who may often have challenges in finding time to access face-to-face services. We developed a guided web-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention for Finnish parents of children with chronic conditions or functional disabilities. Participants (N=100) will be recruited on parent associations' Facebook groups and randomly assigned to guided web-based ACT condition and a control condition receiving psychoeducation. The guided web-based ACT condition will receive a 10-week web intervention including three remote meetings with a psychologist through the telemedicine application Doxy.me. Symptoms of burnout (SMBQ), depression (PHQ), health-related quality of life (RAND-36), mindfulness (FFMQ), general measure of psychological flexibility (CompACT) as well as the wellbeing of their child (KINDL) will be measured before (pre) and after the intervention (post), at 7-month (follow-up 1) and 10-month (follow-up 2) after the pre-measurement. In this randomized controlled trial we will investigate the outcomes and the mechanisms of change of the web-based ACTintervention. In addition, we will examine the acceptability of the web-based intervention.

Conditions

• Burnout Syndrome
• Psychological Distress
• Depressive Symptoms
• Quality of Life

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Internet-based ACT intervention

The Internet-based ACT intervention included a 10-week web-based program consisting of five modules with different themes that the participants were instructed to process during the course of two weeks. The program was based on the processes of ACT and included themes such as life values, mindfulness, defusion, self-as-context acceptance and self-compassion. The content of each module consisted of text, video, exercises with audio files, and homework assignments. In addition, the participants filled in a diary with exercises in paper format. The intervention included also three remote meetings (à 45 minutes) via a videoconferencing tool doxy.me conducted by a psychologist. The remote meetings took place at the beginning, after 4 weeks, and at the end of the intervention.

BEHAVIORAL

Psychoeducation

The psychoeducation group received a self-help booklet and a link to a web-based wellness training program. The program included exercises with MP3 audio files. No personal support during the 10-week intervention was provided.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Gerocenter Foundation for Research and Development

  collaborator OTHER

• Social Insurance Institution, Finland

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Jyvaskyla

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Raimo Lappalainen, PhD · Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-01-28

Primary Completion

2020-12-15

Completion

2020-12-15

Countries

• Finland

Study Locations