Compassion Focussed Therapy in a Transdiagnostic Health Group
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Rebalance: Group Compassion Focussed Therapy for people with transdiagnostic chronic health conditions – a case series.
IRAS ID
251582
Contact name
Anna Maddison
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 23 days
Research summary
Research Summary
The Rebalance groups evolved as a service development in the NHS Lothian Clinical Health Psychology department. The groups use Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) with the goal of helping those attending to increase their compassion, reduce self-criticism and shame, and adjust to their physical health condition. Traditional psychology groups in Clinical Health Psychology are organised so that people with the same condition attend together, this group is novel as people with any long term health conditions (LTC) can attend and therefore each group brings people with a varied experience of adjusting to different health conditions.
This study aims to looks at the process of change in adjustment and compassion throughout the novel Rebalance group. The study will use a single case experimental design, case series methodology, which takes each participant as its own case study. Participants will be recruited from NHS Lothian Clinical Health Psychology department. They will have been invited to the Rebalance group as part of routine care. Each participant will be asked to collect data over a baseline period, this will be a different length of time for each person, ranging from 7 to 14 days. This will include completing a set of questionnaires at the beginning of the baseline, and then 3 questions via a mobile phone app each day. When the group begins they will then be asked to complete the same set of questionnaires each week before the group begins, and answer the same 3 questions daily throughout the eight-week intervention. At routine 3 month follow up participants will be asked to complete the batch of questionnaires again and will be asked to consent to receiving the three daily questions again for a one week period.
Summary of Results
This was a group intervention using Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) with people who have varied physical health conditions. The research was sponsored by the University of Edinburgh, and the groups were run by NHS Lothian's Clinical Health Psychology service. This was a new intervention because groups are usually separated by health condition. The group lasted 10 weeks and aimed to help participants to have more compassion in their lives, and to help their adjustment to living with illness. People attending three groups were asked to participate. Twelve people were recruited, with six going on to complete the study. They were asked to answer three questions each day, and a set of questionnaires each week. Changes in scores could be tracked over the group sessions. This meant it was possible to see which factors changed, and to see when they changed. The results showed the CFT group was helpful and all participants reported improved self-compassion. Some participants described having less compassion for other people after the group. Changes in adjustment to illness were not the same for all participants. This showed that group CFT for people with varied health conditions is effective at improving self-compassion. It suggests that the group might need to include other strategies to improve adjustment to living with long-term ill health.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
18/SS/0164
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jan 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion