ACTing Dyadically in Dementia Care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Dyadic approach to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for people living with dementia and their caregivers.
IRAS ID
335504
Contact name
Nima Golijani-Moghaddam
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Univeristy of Lincoln
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 0 days
Research summary
Numbers of people living with cognitive impairments like dementia are rising, and research shows that these difficulties can result in psychological distress and reduced quality of life. A therapeutic intervention called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been used successfully to improve the quality of life for people with other neurological (brain/spine) conditions and their caregivers, yet research has not investigated the impact of completing this therapy together or ‘dyadically’.
ACT works by increasing ‘psychological flexibility’, the ability to deal with the present moment and act according to our values and wishes despite difficult feelings, thoughts or emotions. It is expected that completing an ACT intervention dyadically will help care partners increase their psychological flexibility and their quality of life. The aim of this study is to gather evidence for how feasible and acceptable ACT is for care partners with dementia or cognitive impairment.
Participants will be recruited from NHS Older Adult Mental Health Teams and Memory Assessment Services in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Participants may be sourced from the Join Dementia Research network where the study will be advertised. Potential participants will be advised to contact the research team to be considered for involvement.
Twelve care partner dyads will be recruited, each with one person living with an identified cognitive impairment or dementia, and their primary caregiver. At least one member of the care partner dyad must receive a score of ≤60 on a measure of quality of life called the WHOQOL-BREF (indicating psychological distress) to be included. The study will be funded by Health Education England and will use a case series design where each eligible dyad will attend a six-session course of ACT delivered dyadically. Each dyad will then attend a post-intervention interview to evaluate the intervention and how acceptable they found it. Estimated study duration is 12-24 weeks.REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
24/WS/0058
Date of REC Opinion
1 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion