Evaluating an Online Acceptance and Commitment Training Program for Individuals with Chronic Health Conditions

Summary

Chronic health conditions (CHC) commonly share the challenge of impaired health-related quality of life, negatively impacting the lives of millions of people in the United States. Long term effects for living with a chronic health condition are likely to include poor self-management behaviors, which are related to avoidance of disease related thoughts and feelings (e.g., health anxiety) and can be addressed directly with psychosocial interventions. With the focus on fostering values driven and meaningful behavior while accepting thoughts and feelings, ACT may prove to be a particularly effective approach for individuals coping with the challenging symptoms and effects of having a chronic health condition. Previous web-based ACT interventions for CHCs have focused on building ACT skills for a narrow subset of CHCs (e.g., breast cancer, diabetes, tinnitus). While there is added benefit for a self-help program for populations with specific stressors or conditions, there is also a high prevalence of comorbidity in CHCs, shared challenges in illness management and coping, and clear evidence that ACT works effectively across CHCs to improve quality of life. Thus, our goal of this research project is to evaluate a new 6 session, online, self-guided ACT program for adults with chronic health conditions broadly to improve their quality of life and wellbeing through a randomized controlled trial. The specific aims are:

1. To evaluate the feasibility of an initial prototype of ACT program for adults with CHC's as indicated by recruitment, retention, and adherence rates.
2. To evaluate the acceptability as indicated by self-reported program satisfaction and qualitative feedback following the course completion.
3. To identify ways to further refine the program based on participant self-reported satisfaction with sessions and open-ended text-based feedback.
4. To test the efficacy of the program on improving quality of life among adults with CHC's.

Conditions

• Stress, Psychological
• Depression
• Well-Being, Psychological

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

ACT Guide for Chronic Health Conditions

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) combines the skills of acceptance, cognitive defusion, being present, self as context, values, and committed action to help individuals engage with a meaningful life. The current project is an online, self-guided, 6-session intervention based on ACT. The program is intended to help individuals with chronic health conditions improve their quality of life and mental health. Each session is expected to take about 30 minutes each, and the entire program will take 6 weeks to complete, as users will be encouraged to work on one session per week. Within each session, participants will read about concepts and ACT metaphors, apply ACT concepts to general and chronic health condition specific vignettes, and apply ACT concepts to their own lives and situations related to their chronic health condition. Interactive experiences are included in each session and ends with a printable summary with practice skills before proceeding.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Utah State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Michael E Levin, PhD · Utah State University

• Ty B Aller · Utah State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-01-26

Primary Completion

2024-09-17

Completion

2024-09-17

Countries

• United States

Study Locations