Caring For Caregivers: Pilot RCT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Caring For Carers (C4C): Pilot randomised control trial of Positive Written Disclosure for Older Adult Carers of people with psychosis.
IRAS ID
212631
Contact name
Kevin Davies
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sussex
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
People experiencing psychosis need help with their mental and physical health and daily activities (e.g. shopping, finances). Care is mostly provided by family/friends, often in their 7-8th decade. Caregiving limits caregivers’ own leisure activities and availability to work/volunteer, causing additional stress, poor health and financial problems. The DoH recognise that supporting caregivers helps the people they care for, but NICE guidelines recommend inaccessible and time-consuming therapies. Research needs to identify therapies accessible for caregivers such as Positive Written Disclosure (PWD) which involves writing about positive life experiences. PWD has reduced health complaints and feelings of anxiety/depression. A study in caregivers included so many different types of people that it is not possible to generalise findings to older caregivers of people with psychosis who experience more stress and stigma.\n\nBefore we can study whether PWD improves wellbeing, we need to first study its acceptability in older caregivers of people with psychosis. This study aims to answer this question through a pilot randomised controlled feasibility trial. We will compare Positive Written Disclosure to a writing control task, and a no-writing control task. The findings from this pilot trial will help us determine whether a definitive trial is justified, and if so provide the relevant indices that can be used for power calculations.\n\nThe Research Team and Roles:\nChristina Jones = Principal Investigator\nCassie Hazell =\tResearch Fellow and Trial Manager\nHelen Smith = Researcher - Trial Expert \nMark Hayward = Researcher - psychosis expert\nDaryl O’Connor = Researcher - PWD expert \nVanessa Pinfold\t= Researcher - carers expert\nStephen Bremner\t= Statistician\t\nTBC = Research Assistant\n
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0757
Date of REC Opinion
24 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion