Evaluation of an Adapted ACT Group for Stroke & Brain Injury Survivors

Summary

Stroke and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) represent a major cause of long-term disability among survivors. Many psychological difficulties can also occur including: depression, anxiety, fatigue, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This has a marked impact on health service usage. Despite certain interventions being offered to support stroke survivors and individuals with brain injury, there is still an outstanding need to increase and improve psychological resources for this population.

This research proposes to evaluate the effectiveness of a group therapy intervention, using a model called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), for stroke survivors and adults with ABI. This ACT group aims to promote positive adjustment and improve wellbeing, whilst also aiming to reduce levels of distress.

The research will comprise of two parts (one quantitative and the other qualitative).

Conditions

• Stroke
• Acquired Brain Injury
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Brain Injuries

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT is a psychological intervention. ACT encourages individuals to remain open to internal experiences (positive, negative and neutral), rather than attempting to control or ameliorate them (which may only serve to increase pain and suffering). It also encourages individuals to focus on committing to a life that is congruent with their core values, regardless of the experiences that show up for them. The premise of this model is to learn to modify the relationship one has with their internal experiences (thoughts, feelings, physical sensations etc.), rather than change the experiences per se. This is achieved through different processes including mindfulness, acceptance, defusion and exploration of values. These core tenets of ACT help to cultivate psychological flexibility. This ACT intervention is delivered as a 5-week group for stroke survivors and adults with brain injury. It comprises of experiential and didactic components.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Stroke Implementation Group

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

  collaborator OTHER

• Swansea Bay University Health Board

  collaborator OTHER

• Anna Pennington

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Rebecca Large, Dr · ABUHB

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-04-08

Primary Completion

2020-03-16

Completion

2020-03-23

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations