Online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Reducing Anxiety

West University of Timisoara

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Anxiety Disorder/Anxiety State

Treatments: Behavioral: ACT program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03074669

WUTimisoara ACT-online

Details and patient eligibility

About

The main objective of this study is to test the effectiveness of an Internet-delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) program in reducing anxiety symptoms.

Full description

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness and level of acceptability of an Internet-delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) program in reducing symptoms of anxiety. The effectiveness of the intervention will be compared with a wait-list control group using a randomized control trial (RCT) design. The participants with high / clinical levels of anxiety from the active treatment group will have the opportunity to read seven ACT modules and receive personalized feedback for their completed homework assignments.

The intervention will be delivered online and participants will have seven weeks to complete the seven modules (we might add one extra week of treatment for all participants in the event they need to compensate the treatment delays accumulated during the previous seven weeks).

Enrollment: 80 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• be fluent in Romanian
• be over 18 years of age
• have high levels of anxiety
• have access to an Internet-connected computer

Exclusion criteria

• suicidal ideation
• substance abuse
• severe psychiatric disorders
• a recent change in psychotropic medication (i.e., the dose has been changed within the last month)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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80 participants in 2 patient groups

ACT program

Experimental group

Description:

Participants from the active treatment group will be granted access to seven modules that are structured like chapters of a self-help book adapted for the online environment. In addition, participants from the experimental arm will be guided by an on-line therapist throughout the program duration. The on-line therapists are graduate students in clinical psychology who work under the supervision of an experienced psychotherapist. Participants will be asked to fill in a series of self-report measures to monitor their anxiety and some ACT specific processes (i.e., acceptance, mindfulness, experiential avoidance) throughout the intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: ACT program

Wait-list control group

No Intervention group

Description:

During the first seven weeks, participants in the wait-list control group will only be asked to fill in a series of self-report measures to monitor their anxiety and some ACT specific processes (i.e., acceptance, mindfulness, experiential avoidance). Following the experimental group's completion of the program, participants in this group will also receive the intervention. All participants will be contacted 6 months after the intervention has concluded in order to conduct a follow-up assessment.