Balance Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Long COVID
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised controlled trial assessing the efficacy of balance acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for Long COVID.
IRAS ID
326529
Contact name
Trudie Chalder
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
The latest self-reported estimates from the office for national statistics indicate that 2.1 million people were affected by ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 infection in the UK, 73% of whom report that symptoms affect their day-to-day activities (Office for National Statistics, November 2022). Nevertheless, there are no available treatments for long COVID (LC) symptoms.
A psychological therapy that has been effective in various long-term health conditions is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) (Graham et al., 2016). We have developed an ACT based intervention specifically designed for LC, called Balance ACT.
The present project includes the Tier 1 which is the main study and will assess the efficacy of Balance ACT, and Tier 2 which is an optional sub-study and includes additional physical tests of muscle strength and fatigue.
Tier 1 study:
The present randomised controlled trial aims to assess the efficacy of Balance ACT compared to treatment as usual in people with LC. We aim to recruit 196 people with long COVID, aged 18-80. Participants will be randomly allocated to either a 10 sessions of Balance ACT (n=98) or treatment as usual (n=98), which includes access to "Your COVID Recovery" website and an information leaflet for LC. All participants will attend assessments at week 7, 14 and 20 following their randomisation, which will include objective (physical tests and wearables) and subjective measures (questionnaires). The primary outcome is work and social adjustment at week 14 after the randomisation. The duration of participation is 20 weeks and the last follow-up will be completed by the end of February 2025.Tier 2 study:
The Tier 2 study will be optional and aim to assess baseline muscle strength and fatigue in LC. It will be conducted in parallel with the Tier 1 study and include people from the tier 1 study who consented to undergo additional physical tests.REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0941
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jan 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion