Multi-Component Anxiety Management Programme Intellectual disability
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of a novel multi-component anxiety management programme: a mixed methods quasi experimental feasibility study
IRAS ID
315557
Contact name
Daniel Acton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN16062949
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
This research project is about trying a novel treatment to help people to manage their anxiety. We have developed an anxiety management treatment with people who have an intellectual disability and we want to investigate if this treatment helps people manage their anxiety.
There are an estimated 1.5 million people in England with an intellectual disability, with nearly half of people experiencing some difficulty with anxiety. The effect anxiety can have on a person’s life can be significant which can result in increased medication being prescribed to help the person cope with their mental health.
There are not many effective therapies available that can help and support people with self-management of their anxiety. People with intellectual disabilities can develop these skills, but need adapted therapies to develop and retain self-management skills. For people who have a more severe intellectual disability and have difficulty with their communication, anxiety can be demonstrated through difficult behaviour, resulting in higher levels of medication being prescribed.
There is some evidence which suggests that adapting therapies to help people with their anxiety can be effective, but this is limited to a single psychological therapy approach with no evidence of any long-term effects. We have developed an anxiety management programme using a range of different psychological therapies.
This research project will include 60 people with intellectual disabilities. We will test our treatment with 30 people. A separate 30 people will receive a different therapy treatment called cognitive behaviour therapy (treatment as usual). Both of the treatments will be for people with intellectual disability who suffer with anxiety.
We will use outcome measures to understand the treatment effects and any differences between groups. We will obtain feedback from participants using interviews to make improvements to the anxiety management programme.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EM/0044
Date of REC Opinion
14 Mar 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion