Tetris to reduce intrusive memories in parents after PICU (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Brief Intervention Involving Tetris Gameplay to Prevent Intrusive Traumatic Memories in Parents after Paediatric Intensive Care: A Feasibility Study.
IRAS ID
262690
Contact name
Trudie Chalder
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King’s College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 9 days
Research summary
A growing number of children admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are now surviving critical illness. Despite this, admission to the PICU can have far-reaching consequences for their psychological wellbeing. For parents and children the PICU can be an exceptionally distressing environment. Previous research has found significant rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in parents following their child’s discharge. Interventions including Trauma-focused Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy are commonly cited evidence-based interventions for individuals experiencing PTSD. However, these are often employed as follow-up interventions and there few effective preventative interventions.
A novel intervention has been developed, aiming to reduce the frequency of intrusive traumatic memories – a hallmark symptom of PTSD. The behavioural intervention involves (1) the reactivation of traumatic memories of PICU and/or the events that brought their child into PICU and (2) engaging an individuals’ working memory in a simple but demanding task (i.e. this task involves playing the puzzle video-game ‘Tetris’). This task has been demonstrated to result in a lowered frequency of intrusive traumatic memories of the event.
The present study aims to determine the feasibility of this brief behavioural intervention to prevent intrusive traumatic memories in parents whose child is in PICU, and to estimate recruitment, withdrawal and dropout rate to inform the design of a fully powered randomised control trial. A dual-site study will be undertaken across; 1) King's College London (with Evelina Children’s Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust, being a patient identification centre), and 2) Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. Participants will be parents whose children are patients in a PICU and/or whose children have recently been discharged to a hospital ward following PICU. The study is expected to commence in July/August 2019 and will end in March 2020.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
19/ES/0086
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion