Feasibility and Acceptability of an Online ACT Intervention for Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction - Beta Trial

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the acceptability, feasibility, and usability of the iACTforDGBI intervention among patients with Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBI). The main question it aims to answer are:

What are the perceptions of patients with DGBI and healthcare practitioners regarding the acceptability, feasibility, and usability of the iACTforDGBI intervention?

Participants will be asked to:

Complete the iACTforDGBI intervention prototype, consisting of self-guided online sessions.

Participate in online interviews and fill out online questionnaires to evaluate the intervention concerning acceptability, feasibility, usability and preliminary effects.

Conditions

• DGBI
• Depression/Anxiety

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

The Online version of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (iACTforDGBI) intervention will include 8 weekly sessions of around 20 minutes each, and will comprise ACT-consistent informative texts, audio exercises, and videos. The intervention is expected to have the following overall structure: Session 0: Individual videoconference meeting, introduction. Session 1: Creative hopelessness and mindfulness. Session 2: The body, acceptance, and values. Session 3: Compassion. Session 4: Cognitive defusion and committed action. Session 5-7: Personalised content (in-depth material and tasks based on individual difficulties assessed with diary). Session 8: Summary of intervention.

OTHER

Psychoeducation

Participants in the active control group will be asked to complete 8 weekly 20-minute sessions of an online course for education on DGBIs. This course will be delivered through a similar platform than the one delivering the online ACT for DGBI intervention, via the same website. The intervention platform will have similar designs and structure, and will be developed by the same web development company. Session 0: Individual session, introduction. Session 1-8: The content will be based on the IBS school intervention (e.g., Ringström et al., 2009), in particular its online version (Lindfors et al., 2021), developed by members of the current research team. This education intervention was based on the biopsychosocial model of DGBI and was originally developed and tested as a face-to-face group intervention with six 2-h sessions held weekly. IBS school generally aims at increasing disease knowledge in people with IBS and covers a wide spectrum of issues related to IBS.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Sahlgrenska University Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Göteborg University

  collaborator OTHER

• Uppsala University

  collaborator OTHER

• Örebro University, Sweden

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

75 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-09-08

Primary Completion

2025-11-30

Completion

2025-12-31

Countries

• Sweden

Study Locations