Emotion-Focused Mindfulness Therapy: A Feasibility Study for Late Life Anxiety

NCT ID: NCT04415528

Last Updated: 2022-02-21

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 48 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-08-03
• Study Completion Date: 2021-09-30

Brief Summary

Canadians 65 and older experience anxiety at a rate of 6.4%, affecting more than 300,000 people. In Ontario, 5.6% of adults 65 and older have anxiety, representing over 100,000 people. Eastern Ontario primary care clinics report significantly higher numbers of adults 65 and older diagnosed with anxiety at between 28% and 30%, representing approximately 4,600 people diagnosed with anxiety. Costs to the Canadian health care system of anxiety in community dwelling adults aged 65 and older have been estimated at $61.2 to $119.8 million per 1,000,000 people. These costs can reasonably be expected to increase by 2021 when the percentage of older adults 65+ with mental illness is estimated to be approximately 30% of the older population base.

Anxiety in older adults has been linked retaining new information and the instrumental activities of daily living, sleep disturbance, suicidal ideation particularly among men, and increased use of health care services. Present pharmacological treatments for anxiety in older adults have met with limited success. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are an area of research interest in the treatment of anxiety. The use of MBIs has shown a trend toward self-reported lower levels of chronic stress and psychological stress among older adults small scale RCTs and qualitative studies.

Emotion focused mindfulness meditation therapy (EFMT) is a MBI that shows promise. EFMT has been demonstrated to reduce symptoms of anxiety in general populations. EFMT's focus on meditation and the felt sense of emotions, rather than learning new material, may make it a promising intervention for reducing symptoms of anxiety for older adults who often report normal aging problems such as general forgetfulness and difficulty with word recall. EFMT may be a potentially promising intervention that has not yet been tested in older adults. EFMT can be offered in primary care, community and hospital settings. Further research is required to determine if EFMT could reduce anxiety for older adults.

Detailed Description

The purpose of this small scale RCT is to determine the feasibility and acceptability of EFMT among community dwelling older adults who experience anxiety. This study has the following three aims: to determine if participants can be recruited, enrolled, and retained; to determine if participants can adhere to all components of the intervention; and to determine the extent to which participants who receive the intervention have decreased levels of anxiety compared to those who do not receive the intervention. The secondary outcomes will be to determine the extent to which participants who receive the intervention have improved sleep quality, and improved subjective memory functioning compared to those who do not receive the intervention.

This will be a small pilot RCT study that will use a wait list control trial design. Participants will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or control group. Emotion-Focused Mindfulness Therapy (EFMT) is a group intervention consisting of eight weekly meetings of 2.5 hours with 10 - 12 participants per group. Participants are provided instruction that encourages noting and experiencing bodily sensations and emotions during meditations. Meditations are conducted in silence for between twenty and thirty-five minutes, and then participants are asked to journal their recollection of the meditation and experiences that arise for them as they journal. Following journalling, each participant describes their experience in meditation, with the facilitator offering empathic exploration to support transforming negative emotions into adaptive emotions.

The study will be conducted in an online delivery PHIPPA protected platform and has been modified to accommodate electronic delivery. Maximum number of participants per group will be six, and each session will be 1.5 hours. Data will be collected at three points by a research assistant to evaluate the feasibility of EFMT for older adults and determine whether anxiety is influenced by the intervention.

Conditions

Anxiety

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Intervention group

The intervention group will begin receiving the group intervention within one - two weeks of Time 1 assessment. This group will receive Time 2 assessments at the end of the group delivery. Time 3 assessments will be administered eight weeks after the completion of group delivery.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Emotion-Focused Mindfulness Therapy

Intervention Type: OTHER

EFMT is a group intervention of 8weekly meetings of 2.5 hours with 10 - 12 participants per group. Participants are provided instruction that encourages noting and experiencing bodily sensations and emotions during meditations. Meditations are conducted in silence for between 20 and 35 minutes. Participants are asked to journal their recollection of the meditation and experiences that arise for them as they journal. Each participant then describes their experience in meditation, with the facilitator offering empathic exploration to support transforming negative emotions into adaptive emotions.

The study will be conducted in an online PHIPPA protected platform and has been modified to accommodate electronic delivery. Maximum number of participants per group will be six, and each session will be 1.5 hours. Data will be collected at three points by a research assistant to evaluate the feasibility of EFMT for older adults and determine whether anxiety is influenced by the intervention.

Wait listed control group

The wait listed control group will be assessed at Time 1, eight weeks before receiving the intervention. This group will receive Time 2 assessments at the beginning of their group delivery. This group will complete Time 3 assessments eight weeks after the completion of group delivery.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Emotion-Focused Mindfulness Therapy

Intervention Type: OTHER

EFMT is a group intervention of 8weekly meetings of 2.5 hours with 10 - 12 participants per group. Participants are provided instruction that encourages noting and experiencing bodily sensations and emotions during meditations. Meditations are conducted in silence for between 20 and 35 minutes. Participants are asked to journal their recollection of the meditation and experiences that arise for them as they journal. Each participant then describes their experience in meditation, with the facilitator offering empathic exploration to support transforming negative emotions into adaptive emotions.

The study will be conducted in an online PHIPPA protected platform and has been modified to accommodate electronic delivery. Maximum number of participants per group will be six, and each session will be 1.5 hours. Data will be collected at three points by a research assistant to evaluate the feasibility of EFMT for older adults and determine whether anxiety is influenced by the intervention.

Interventions

Emotion-Focused Mindfulness Therapy

EFMT is a group intervention of 8weekly meetings of 2.5 hours with 10 - 12 participants per group. Participants are provided instruction that encourages noting and experiencing bodily sensations and emotions during meditations. Meditations are conducted in silence for between 20 and 35 minutes. Participants are asked to journal their recollection of the meditation and experiences that arise for them as they journal. Each participant then describes their experience in meditation, with the facilitator offering empathic exploration to support transforming negative emotions into adaptive emotions.

The study will be conducted in an online PHIPPA protected platform and has been modified to accommodate electronic delivery. Maximum number of participants per group will be six, and each session will be 1.5 hours. Data will be collected at three points by a research assistant to evaluate the feasibility of EFMT for older adults and determine whether anxiety is influenced by the intervention.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants will be community dwelling older adults at least 65 years of age and with have no existing therapeutic alliance with the PI. Inclusion criteria will be a diagnosis or self-report of anxiety. The presence of symptoms of anxiety will be assessed using the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) with a cut off score of 10 which indicates the presence of anxiety (Johnco et al., 2015). Participants will be willing to commit to an eight-week program.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Exclusion criteria will be beginning or stopping psychotropic medications within the previous six weeks and concurrent participation in any other mindfulness-based group during the study. Participants will not be excluded if they have prior experience with mindfulness. Further exclusion criteria will be a Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA) cut off score of 19 which indicates the possibility of mild cognitive impairment.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 80 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Stacey Hatch

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Stacey Hatch

Stacey Hatch, PhD candidate

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Stacey Hatch, PhDcandidate

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Queens University

Locations

Queen's University

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Countries

Canada

References

Gayner, B. (2019). Emotion-focused mindfulness therapy. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2019.1572026

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Statistics Canada. (2012). Table 13-10-0465-01: Mental health indicators. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.25318/1310046501-eng

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Wisco, R., & Haber, C. (n.d.). A feasibility study of an emotion focused-mindfulness group. In Press.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Vasiliadis HM, Dionne PA, Preville M, Gentil L, Berbiche D, Latimer E. The excess healthcare costs associated with depression and anxiety in elderly living in the community. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2013 Jun;21(6):536-48. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2012.12.016. Epub 2013 Feb 6.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 23567409 (View on PubMed)

Troyer AK, Rich JB. Psychometric properties of a new metamemory questionnaire for older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2002 Jan;57(1):P19-27. doi: 10.1093/geronb/57.1.p19.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 11773220 (View on PubMed)

Pachana NA, Byrne GJ, Siddle H, Koloski N, Harley E, Arnold E. Development and validation of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory. Int Psychogeriatr. 2007 Feb;19(1):103-14. doi: 10.1017/S1041610206003504.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 16805925 (View on PubMed)

Carpenter JS, Andrykowski MA. Psychometric evaluation of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. J Psychosom Res. 1998 Jul;45(1):5-13. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3999(97)00298-5.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 9720850 (View on PubMed)

Hatch S, Finlayson M, Rej S, Kessler D. Virtually-Delivered Emotion Focused Mindfulness Therapy (EFMT) Group vs. Wait-List Control for Late-Life Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2023 Oct;31(10):767-782. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2023.04.007. Epub 2023 Apr 19.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 37169708 (View on PubMed)

Hatch S, Kessler D, Finlayson M, Rej S. Video-delivered emotion-focused mindfulness therapy for late- life anxiety: study protocol for a feasibility randomized controlled trial. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2021 Sep 3;7(1):169. doi: 10.1186/s40814-021-00905-0.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 34479632 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

1509

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id