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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Older Adults

NCT04280445 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 3

Last updated 2025-01-01

Study results available
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Summary

Title: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for older adults experiencing psychological distress: A hermeneutic single case efficacy design (HSCED) series.

Anxiety and depression in older age is associated with increased level of disability and lower quality of life (OAs). Unfortunately, pharmacological treatments are disproportionality relied upon to manage the mental health of OAs. Despite cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) being the recommended psychotherapy, there is evidence that CBT is less effective for OAs than younger populations.

An alternative treatment, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), has been shown to be effective in reducing distress for OAs experiencing physical health difficulties. Several case studies have also indicated that ACT can be effective for OAs with psychological difficulties. ACT aims to change how a person interacts with their thoughts/feelings; to reduce avoidance; and to promote value-focused living.

The study aims to use an adjudicated HSCED to answer the following questions:

i) Is ACT an effective intervention for older adult clients experiencing psychological distress.

ii) Do meaningful changes occur for client-participants over the course of ACT intervention?

iii) What specific factors (ACT-specific, non-specific, extra-therapeutic) contribute to observed changes?

iv) Are observed changes broadly attributable to the ACT intervention?

v) What adaptations may facilitate change when using ACT with older adult clients.

For the study, up to four participants will be recruited from an OA community mental health team, each receiving up to 12 individual sessions of ACT. Participants will be required to complete a number of questionnaires throughout the study, including before/after sessions. Post-treatment, there will be a semi-structured 1:1 interview to explore any changes participants experienced, before a six-week follow-up is employed to check stability of change.

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

Psychological therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a trans-diagnostic approach which aims to promote better living by supporting clients through six key processes (e.g. mindfulness, values). ACT does not aim to reduce distress, rather its goal is to promote better living or a better quality of life despite distress (Hayes, Strosahl \& Wilson, 1999). ACT has been shown to have equal or superior efficacy to CBT with a number of psychological and physical health conditions (A-Tjak et al., 2015; Ruiz, 2012).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Lincoln

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Nima Golijani-Moghaddam, Dr · University of Lincoln

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2020-04-29
Primary Completion
2020-11-18
Completion
2020-12-18

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 NCT04280445 on ClinicalTrials.gov