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Controlled Clinical Trial of a Self-Help for Anxiety Intervention for Patients Waiting for Psychological Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2008

Mike Lucock ,
Kath Padgett ,
Rachael Noble ,
Alison Westley ,
Chris Atha ,
Carrie Horsefield  and
Chris Leach
Mike Lucock*
Affiliation:
South West Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust and University of Huddersfield, UK
Kath Padgett
Affiliation:
University of Huddersfield, UK
Rachael Noble
Affiliation:
University of Leeds, UK
Alison Westley
Affiliation:
Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT, UK
Chris Atha
Affiliation:
The Retreat, York, UK
Carrie Horsefield
Affiliation:
South West Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust, UK
Chris Leach
Affiliation:
South West Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust and University of Sheffield, UK
*
Reprint requests to Mike Lucock, South West Yorks Mental Health Trust, APTS Fieldhead, Ouchthorpe Lane, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF1 3SP, UK. E-mail: mike.lucock@swyt.nhs.uk
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Abstract

This study was a controlled clinical trial in which patients were offered a brief low cost, low intensity self-help intervention while waiting for psychological therapy. A CBT based self-help pack was given to patients with significant anxiety problems and no attempt was made to exclude patients on the basis of severity or co-morbidity. The treatment group received the intervention immediately following assessment and the control group after a delay of 8 weeks so comparisons between the two groups were made over 8 weeks. Although there was some support for the effectiveness of the self help intervention, with a significant time x group interaction for CORE-OM scores, this was not significant with the intention to treat analysis, nor for HADS anxiety and depression scores and the effect size was low. A follow up evaluation suggested some patients attributed significant goal attainment to the intervention. The findings suggest the routine use of self-help interventions in psychological therapies services should be considered although further more adequately powered research is required to identify the type of patients and problems that most benefit, possible adverse effects and the effect on subsequent uptake of and engagement in therapy.

Keywords

Self-helpanxietycognitive behaviour therapy
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 36 , Issue 5 , October 2008 , pp. 541 - 551
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2008

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