- PROJECT TITLE: What helps and what hinders in remotely delivered 'acceptance and commitment therapy' for survivors of childhood brain tumours: A diary and interview study
- PROJECT TEAM MEMBER: Katie Powers, assistant psychologist
- INSTITUTION: Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
- AMOUNT AWARDED: Approx. £14,065 (funded by CCLG Late Effects Project Grant)
Young people who have been treated for a brain tumour are found to have the worst quality of life of all cancer survivors. And, despite their psychological and social needs being so important, they’re often overlooked in research. In an effort to improve the physical and mental health of young people diagnosed with or treated for a brain tumour, the ACT Now study (funded by The Brain Tumour Charity), is investigating whether a psychological therapy called ‘acceptance and commitment therapy’ (ACT) is both useful and possible. ACT uses techniques to help people accept the things they cannot change, whilst committing to doing things that really matter to them personally. In our study, ACT is delivered by clinical psychologists once a week for 12 weeks. To start with, sessions were going to be mostly faceto-face but, because of the pandemic, we actually delivered all sessions virtually.
We’re delighted that CCLG has funded a further study, which will help us understand what young people think about ACT as video-therapy, including what helped and hindered their engagement with the therapy. To start with, we’re conducting interviews with some of the young people who have finished their therapy within the ACT Now study. We are asking what it was like to work with a clinical psychologist and receive ACT virtually, and the overall impact that the therapy has had on them. So far, we’ve interviewed 12 young people and are starting to see some recurring themes in the interviews. For many of these young people, this was their first time having psychological therapy, which made it difficult for them to know what to expect. However, many of them hoped to learn some techniques to navigate their feelings and cope with the everchanging pressures of adolescent and young adult life.
When asked about what it was like to receive therapy virtually, almost everyone said that it was easier for them to access therapy this way, despite occasional technological difficulties. The clinical psychologists were able to be flexible around the interviewees’ busy schedules, which would have normally made accessing therapy more difficult. ACT gave the young people an opportunity to learn about themselves and how they can live life in a more personally fulfilling way. They told us that they found being involved in the study a positive experience, and that ACT helped them psychologically, physically and socially.
Making sure that young people feel this video-therapy works for them is a key priority. Hearing the experiences of all the interviewees so far has helped us think of how we can make sure we deliver the best possible video-therapy for young people diagnosed with or treated for brain tumours. We can also use these findings to help develop video-therapy techniques for young people who have other cancers in the future.
We’re so grateful to CCLG for supporting this project and for the young people in the ACT Now study who have volunteered to take part in the interviews so far. We hope to capture even more experiences in the coming months.
Read about our research projects here
From Contact magazine issue 95 - Summer 2022
