Feasibility of the Internet Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy (iABCT)

Universitat Jaume I

Status: Completed

Conditions: Compassion; Mental Health Wellness 1

Treatments: Behavioral: internet Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy (iABCT)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03918746

UJaumeICO_CD/005/2019

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the internet Attachment-based compassion Therapy (iABCT) to promote wellbeing and mental health for the general population.

A feasibility open trial and single-arm study will be conducted with three measurement points: at baseline (pre-intervention), immediately after the intervention (post-), and 3-month follow-up, where participants will be allocated to iABCT.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of Compassion-based Intervention (CBI) delivered over the internet in Spanish.

Full description

Compassion refers to a multidimensional psychological construct that involves the feeling that arises in presence of another's suffering and implies the desire to help. There is a growing number of studies pointing out the benefits of Compassion-based Interventions (CBI) and their association with psychological health. CBI are focused on training compassion to others and/or towards oneself (self-compassion) employing formal and informal meditation practices. Recent scientific literature is emerging to prove the feasibility and efficacy of cultivating compassion over the Internet and, thus, delivering self-applied online CBI.

The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of the internet Attachment-based compassion Therapy (iABCT) to promote wellbeing and mental health for the general population. A secondary aim is to explore the preliminary efficacy of iABCT at post-intervention and 3-month follow-up.

The principal hypothesis is that the iABCT will be feasible and well-accepted by participants in terms of expectations, satisfaction, usability, opinion, and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, it is expected that the iABCT will be effective to promote changes in self-reported measures of compassion, self-compassion, mindfulness, self-criticizing, attachment, wellbeing, and mental health. It is also hypothesized that gains will be maintained at 3-month follow-up.

A minimum of 35 participants is considered enough to cover the aims of this feasibility study and to provide precise and efficient estimations of parameters (i.e., means, standard deviations, effect size, and confidence intervals) for powering a larger randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Enrollment: 50 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Be 18 years old or over.
• Have adequate knowledge to understand and read Spanish.
• Have a computer with speakers and Internet access in a secure setting (home or private office).
• Have an email account.
• Ability to use a computer and to surf the Internet.

Exclusion criteria

• Diagnosis of mental disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders-Version 5 (DSM-5).
• Abuse or dependence on alcohol or other substances.
• Be receiving psychiatric or psychological treatment,
• Be engaged in ongoing formal meditation training (e.g., mindfulness or compassion intervention).
• Presence of heart disease, cardiorespiratory illness, or other severe medical condition.
• History of epileptic crisis.
• Unavailability to complete the online intervention because of operation or medical intervention.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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50 participants in 1 patient group

internet Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy (iABCT)

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention will consist of an internet version of Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy (iABCT). The length of the intervention will depend on the pace of each participant that will be advised to carry out one module per week, taking days between sessions to complete homework assignments. It is estimated that the online intervention can be completed in eight weeks, with a maximum period of ten weeks. However, each participant will be free to advance at his/her own pace. Formal telephone support will be not systematically provided, but participants will contact for technical assistance (i.e., web accessibility problems or forgotten password) if necessary.

Treatment:

Behavioral: internet Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy (iABCT)