Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Muscle Disease — ACTMuS  

Muscle Diseases Clinical Trial

Official title: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Muscle Disease

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

In adults, muscle diseases are usually chronic long-term conditions that do not have a definitive cure. Supportive care has been shown to reduce complications from muscle disease and improved survival in some cases. However, there has been limited research to evaluate interventions that may improve quality of life (QoL) with this patient group. The QoL of those with MD is not just affected by the severity of their MD but also a variety of psychological variables. Based upon the knowledge of these psychological variables the investigators feel that a particular type of psychological intervention known as "acceptance and commitment therapy" (ACT) could potentially improve QoL in those with MD. The investigators therefore propose to test whether ACT does in fact improve QoL in those with MD by randomising 154 patients to receive either standard medical care plus a guided self-help ACT programme, or standard medical care only.

Clinical Trial Description

Previous research has shown that while QoL is determined by the severity of the MD, this does not explain all aspects of the reduced QoL of those with MD. Previous research suggested that a cognitive behavioural approach using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) would best suit those with MD. A pilot study of this approach in seven participants with MD was promising, and has led to this definitive trial of ACT. The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy of an ACT intervention to improve the QoL of individuals with MD.

Patients with one of the following muscle diseases will be recruited: limb girdle muscular dystrophy, dystrophinopathies resulting in a Becker' muscular dystrophy phenotype, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and inclusion body myositis. Patients will be recruited primarily through muscle clinics at King's College Hospital (KCH) and The Royal London Hospital (RLH) but also via Muscular Dystrophy UK (MDUK) and UK registries of patients with these muscle diseases. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Muscle Diseases
• Muscular Diseases

• NCT number: NCT02810028
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: King's College Hospital NHS Trust
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 2016
• Completion date: January 2019