Telehealth Psychotherapy for Anxiety in Persons with Cognitive Impairment: Randomised Controlled Pilot Study

This study is focused on examining a psychotherapy program for anxiety in people with cognitive impairment using a randomised controlled design.

Anxiety is a common problem that can be experienced by people of any age. It can negatively affect a person’s overall wellbeing and quality of life. Ongoing stress, such as the current situation surrounding COVID-19, can also trigger or worsen feelings of anxiety.

Stressful and anxiety-provoking situations might sometimes occur unexpectedly, and to some extent be out of our control. However, there are some strategies that might help to manage stress and anxiety more successfully.

After careful selection to be included in the study, half of the eligible people will receive the psychotherapy program and the other half will not receive it (control- usual care). This selection is done randomly.

If you are eligible, you will be randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. If you are selected to the intervention group, you will be asked to attend 6 weekly sessions of psychotherapy. We will teach you techniques to recognize when you are feeling stressed and anxious. We will then teach you strategies which can be directly applied when feeling stressed or anxious. If you are in the control group, you will continue your usual care as prior to entering the study.

The present study will be conducted solely via online video calls, with zero in-person contact. You do not need to travel to sessions or assessments. You can participate in this project from home.

Eligibility 

• Persons with mild cognitive impairment or dementia who experience anxiety detected from our screening procedure.
• Persons currently receiving other forms of psychotherapy will be excluded from this study. Persons receiving medication will be included and noted as receiving such treatment
• We invite support persons, such as caregivers, significant others, spouses, partners, or family members who help you with your daily activities, to participate in the therapy with the participants.

Your eligibility to participate will ultimately be determined by an informed decision made by the clinical team based on outcomes of the initial screening process and subsequent baseline assessments (includes online questionnaires and a clinical interview).

This study is not seeking participants at this time. 

This study has been approved by The University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee [Approval No. 2018000139​]