Compassion Focused Therapy - for Mood in Dementia (Version 1.0)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Being kind to ourselves: A feasibility randomised controlled trial of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) to improve depression and anxiety in Dementia
IRAS ID
327086
Contact name
Aimee Spector
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North East London NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
NIHR203524, NIHR RfPB funding ID
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 28 days
Research summary
Of the 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, many experience depression, anxiety or both. This can worsen cognition (e.g. memory and language) and behavioural problems, lead to relationship difficulties, and increase care home admissions. With medications for mood in dementia often ineffective, recent trends have moved towards non-drug interventions. However, the lack of interventions available with proven effects results in significant unmet needs. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a talking therapy, which addresses feelings of shame and stigma. Our team tested CFT with seven people with dementia, finding small improvements in depression, anxiety and self-criticism. One person said: “I have accepted the fact that I have a ‘memory problem’ and am happy being me. I do not blame myself anymore for something that’s not my fault.”
This project will assess CFT in the form of a ‘feasibility randomised controlled trial’ in 50 people with dementia and depression and/or anxiety. We will allocate them to either the intervention (twelve sessions of group CFT) or control (‘treatment as usual’). If put in the intervention group, people will be asked whether they prefer online or face-to-face groups and allocated accordingly. The outcome measures will be depression, anxiety, quality of life, cognition, self-compassion, relationship between caregiver and caregiver burden (where relevant) and costs, measured before and after the intervention period. We will interview participants, caregivers and clinical professionals delivering the therapy about their experiences.
We aim to understand whether CFT is acceptable as an intervention for people with dementia and depression/ anxiety and whether conducting a future full-scale trial is likely to be possible. We will establish whether we can recruit enough participants, whether CFT is accessible online, whether people remain in the trial and if we can collect data on outcomes.REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0535
Date of REC Opinion
11 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion