CONTACT-GAD

Background

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), characterised by a tendency to worry, is the most common anxiety disorder in older people. Medication and talking therapy are usually offered as forms of treatment, but many do not find them helpful. Guidance on how to help older people manage GAD when it does not respond to such treatments is lacking.

In a previous study (FACTOID), we developed and tailored a talking therapy intervention to the psychological, physical and cognitive needs of older people with treatment-resistant GAD (TR GAD). This was based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT); a form of talking therapy that helps people learn how best to live with distressing thoughts, feelings and sensations, while still doing things that really matter to them. This showed that tailored ACT was acceptable to older people with TR-GAD and it may help improve anxiety, depression and coping.

Aim

The aim of CONTACT-GAD is to find out whether tailored ACT is helpful for older people with TR-GAD and whether it represents value for money in a larger clinical trial.

Project outline

We will recruit 218 people from the UK aged 60 years or above with TR-GAD that has failed to respond to previous drug and/or talking treatments or those with TR-GAD who did not want to start or continue these treatments and still have symptoms of GAD. Participants will be allocated at random to either have tailored ACT plus usual care (intervention group) or usual care alone (control group).

We will test whether ACT plus usual care leads to a greater reduction in anxiety than usual care alone at 6 months. We will follow people up at 12 months to see if any effects are maintained. We will also look at ACT's value for money, quality of life, depression, adverse effects, satisfaction with ACT and usual care, adherence and behaviour change.

Contact details