Providing Emotional Support Around the Point of Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis: PrEliMS 2

Summary

Emotional support following Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnosis is not part of the current service provision. However, research has identified a need for this as poor adjustment to diagnosis has been linked to higher levels of psychological distress. A previous study, named 'Providing Emotional Support Around the Point of MS Diagnosis' (PrEliMS), explored how best to provide support. People with MS completed a self-help workbook, alongside receiving support from MS nurses. The workbook is based on a psychological therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and was developed through focus groups of people with MS, relevant stakeholders, and clinical expertise. In this study, issues were found with parts of the workbook content and delivery. Nurses found it difficult to facilitate this alongside their usual MS Nurse care and felt psychological distress was not within their remit.

In this study, the investigators will

* explore how effective the PrEliMS workbook is at reducing distress from MS diagnosis, when delivered by a Psychology Practitioner (Trainee Clinical Psychologist)
* compare delivery by a Psychology Practitioner with the data from the Nurse delivered PrEliMS trial to explore which is more effective
* explore experience of the PrEliMS-2 intervention and potential improvements.

The investigators will recruit between three and seven people from an MS clinic who have received an MS diagnosis in the last year and consent to taking part. Participants will meet with a Psychology Practitioner (over the phone or online) once a week for four weeks, alongside completing the workbook. The investigators will also ask participants to complete questionnaires to examine their levels of psychological distress. Interviews will then be conducted to get feedback for refining the workbook.

The overall study will last a year

Conditions

• Multiple Sclerosis

Interventions

OTHER

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Participants will then commence the intervention for the next 4 weeks. They will be sent the workbook via post. This will not be a standalone self-help intervention; participants will progress through the workbook alongside weekly emotional support sessions. These will either be over the phone or using an online video-call software, depending on participants preference. The first session will be an hour long to set-up the workbook, answer questions and go through goal setting. The following three weekly sessions will be half an hour to revisit exercises in the workbook, answer questions and review how the workbook progress is going. All sessions will be delivered by a trainee clinical psychologist who will receive standardised training and ongoing supervision from an experienced clinical psychologist.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Nottingham

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nima Moghaddam, DClinPsy · University of Lincoln

• Nikos Evangelou, DPhil · 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

2022-08-12

Primary Completion

2023-04-28

Completion

2023-06-30

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations