Web-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Hoarding Disorder

Utah State University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hoarding Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: ACT Website and Coaching

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04239729

10223

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will help to determine if acceptance and commitment therapy delivered as a web-based intervention is a useful treatment for hoarding disorder and evaluate whether or not web-based treatment for hoarding is credible and acceptable. It may also help identify novel processes of change in hoarding treatment such as psychological inflexibility, mindfulness, and self-stigma.

Full description

The efficacy of an ACT self-help website for hoarding will be assessed through a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial. Participants will be recruited from within the United States through a variety of channels. Given the need to recruit a targeted sample with clinical levels of hoarding symptoms, online advertisements through Facebook and Google AdWords will be the primary recruitment method. Participants will complete an initial brief screening, provide consent, and then complete a baseline survey. Each of these steps will be completed online and participants will be automatically guided from each step to the next. That is, those who screen as eligible will be automatically directed to an online consent form, and those who provide consent will be automatically directed to begin the initial online baseline survey. They will be randomly assigned automatically upon completing the baseline survey to either use the ACT self-help website and receive supportive coaching for the next 8 weeks, or wait for the next 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, participants will be asked to complete a posttreatment survey. They will be asked to complete a final, follow-up survey after an additional 4 weeks after the posttreatment survey. After the follow-up survey is completed, waitlisted participants will be provided with access to the website. The website will implement a self-help version of ACT. Participants will be asked to complete 16 brief self-help website sessions, each taking around 15-20 minutes to finish, twice a week for eight weeks. Participants assigned to the website condition will also receive coaching.The purpose of coaching will be to help participants engage with the website and adhere to the intervention. Coaching will consist of an initial phone call of 10-15 minutes followed by weekly email contact during the 8-week treatment period. Coaches will be graduate students trained in clinical psychology.

Enrollment: 80 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. 18 years old or older
2. Living in the USA
3. Seeking help for clutter and/or hoarding
4. Interested in testing a self-help website
5. Scoring at or above the clinical cutoff of 41 on the Saving Inventory-Revised

Exclusion criteria

1. 17 years or younger
2. Living outside the USA
3. Not seeking help for clutter and/or hoarding
4. Not interested in testing a self-help website
5. Scoring below 41 on the Saving Inventory-Revised

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 Website and Coaching Condition

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be asked to complete 16 brief self-help website sessions, each taking around 15-20 minutes to finish, twice a week for eight weeks. Website exercises and examples primarily focus on hoarding, although some examples also discuss related mental health concerns such as anxiety, low mood, health behaviors, etc. The sessions use multimedia and are interactive. Participants assigned to the website condition will also receive coaching. The purpose of coaching will be to help participants engage with the website and adhere to the intervention. Coaching will consist of an initial phone call of 10-15 minutes followed by weekly email contact during the 8-week treatment period. Coaches will be graduate students trained in clinical psychology.

Treatment:

Behavioral: ACT Website and Coaching

Waitlist Condition

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants assigned to the waitlist will be asked to wait 12 weeks without intervention (access to the website or coaching). They will receive access to the website after 12 weeks, but supportive coaching will not be provided to waitlist participants.