Evaluation of a Psychological Programme for people living with an LTC
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysis of the Impact of Innovative Psychological Programme for people living with a Long Term Condition: are there benefits regarding Psychological measures, Physiological Disease Measures and Healthcare Expenditure?
IRAS ID
133465
Contact name
Arek Hassy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Patients with LTCs can often maximise their quality of life by adopting optimal lifestyle, for example with respect to diet and exercise, or correct medication use. However, some patients struggle to obtain optimal health. Patients may be willing and motivated to take control of their health and lifestyle, e.g. losing weight or becoming more active, but fail to do so due to practical or emotional barriers. It is this patient group that are the focus of the work in ‘Talking Health’, a psychological programme which helps patients think about coping strategies and barriers to adopting optimal lifestyle strategies; and helps patients develop goals, and ways of working towards these. The course is based on psychological theories around adjustment and coping, and uses evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Techniques to help patients identify thoughts and behaviours that may be acting as barriers to living an optimal life with the health condition. Patients with COPD, asthma, heart failure or T2DM will be identified by nurses, GPs, physiotherapists. Patients with any LTC will also be referred from Talking Therapies IAPT service for a more generic course. Consenting patients will be assessed over the telephone or face-to-face and offered groups or individual sessions based on their psychological needs. They would complete a 2-6 session programme. Outcome measures include psychological measures. The project would also ask those patients and their GPs to share some of the data collected during routine reviews, as important markers of extent of disease progression and fitness. In addition healthcare usage (cost of attending GPs including pharmacy and hospitals including A&E attendance) would be requested. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of Talking Health in helping people maximise their quality of life and their health; and reduce disease progression and subsequent NHS costs.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0685
Date of REC Opinion
18 Sep 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion