Exploring ACT for children with CFS/ME who don't recover after 1 year
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative study exploring attitudes toward Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a treatment for children and young people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) who have not yet fully recovered after 12 months of treatment.
IRAS ID
272229
Contact name
Philippa Clery
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 26 days
Research summary
This study aims to find out whether Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an acceptable and feasible treatment approach for children and young people with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) who have not recovered after 12 months of either Activity Management (AM), Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for fatigue (CBT-f); at least 15% of patients do not recover after these treatments. Whilst there are no published randomised controlled trials investigating ACT for paediatric CFS/ME to date, there are suggestions that ACT is acceptable and feasible, and likely to be effective in adults. This study will be part of pre-trial work to help define the group of patients for whom ACT may be appropriate and inform a trial to determine its efficacy.
Attitudes toward ACT will be investigated with semi-structured interviews with: children and teenagers with CFS/ME attending the Royal United Hospitals (RUH) Bath NHS Foundation Trust specialist paediatric CFS/ME service that have not recovered after 12 months of treatment; their parent or carer; and healthcare professionals working with them. The young person with CFS/ME will be identified by a clinician, psychologist or therapist, usually at their 12-month review. Those that are very severely affected by CFS/ME, in that participating would be unacceptably detrimental to their health, will be excluded. Interviews will explore and analyse the following topics: treatment to date; the thoughts and needs of young people with CFS/ME going forward; if ACT would be an acceptable approach; what we need to consider if delivering ACT as a treatment.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1979
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion