Online Multi-component Psychological Intervention for Prevention of Grief Disorder Due to COVID-19

NCT ID: NCT04638842

Last Updated: 2021-10-13

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

43 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-12-24

Study Completion Date

2021-06-01

Brief Summary

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This study evaluates the effectiveness of an online Multi-component psychological intervention, that is focused on providing self-support to the Mexican population for the prevention of complicated grief disorder, by reducing grief and strengthening the capacities of the person to handle losses derived from COVID-19 as well as reducing the symptoms of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and post-traumatic stress, and increasing the quality of sleep and perception of the quality of life.

Detailed Description

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The loss of a loved one is perhaps one of the most shocking events in the life of a person. Grief is an emotional experience universal human, unique and painful, that can be delimited in time, which allows the person to adapt to loss and the new reality. In situations, prior to COVID-19, there was a risk of suffering prolonged grief when going through the death of a family member hospitalized and unable to say goodbye. The global COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a major impact related to the experience of death, dying, and grief, which will make the grieving process difficult. The confusion, anger, and post-traumatic stress are some of the negative effects related to quarantine. It is not only difficult to deal with the loss of the person but at the same time with the interruption of rituals and practices associated with a death such as funerals and burials, which are postponed and performed without the presence of family. Given such data, it is necessary to intervene with proposals that help improve mental health and the management of grief.

To provide treatment in such conditions where face-to-face sessions are not possible, and the number of patients surpasses the number of available therapists it will be implemented an online intervention based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, Behavioral Activation Therapy, and Positive Psychology. The Online Intervention system "Grief COVID" will be delivered in 12 modules interconnected. The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy and moderators of change of this intervention for the reduction of symptoms of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and post-traumatic stress, and the increase of the quality of sleep and perception of the quality of life.

The contents of this intervention will be implemented through a responsive web application. In order to create the most fitted intervention for the real needs of the participants will be created following the principles of User Experience (UX), with this ensuring that the design characteristics of the tool will meet the desired requirements to be perceived as easy to use, attractive and useful. The UX approach refers to the experience that a user has with a product, with special emphasis on human-product interaction.

This study will have an experimental and control group. The experimental group will receive the intervention to prevent complicated grief, and the control group will be on the waiting list. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups. Participants in the control group once their data have been collected and the time elapsed after receiving the intervention in the participants in the experimental group will receive access to the intervention and will also be evaluated in order to increase the sample level and to be able to have more results about the effectiveness of the intervention. In both conditions, the participants will be measured at pre and post moments. The subjective measures will include the following Psychometrics:

1. Depression scale of the Center for Epidemiological Studies.
2. The abbreviated depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21).
3. Plutchik Suicide Risk Scale.
4. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.
5. Post-traumatic diagnostic scale.
6. Satisfaction with Life Scale.
7. Beck's Hopelessness Scale.
8. Generalized Anxiety Scale (GAD-7).
9. Opinion on the treatment.
10. System usability scale.

Conditions

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Grief Anxiety Depression Sleep Disturbance Quality of Life

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

The study has two arms, one is the experimental group that receives the treatment and the other is the comparison group that will receive treatment after the 12 sessions of the experimental group finished. The patients in both groups will be evaluated pre and post/treatment. The participants are assigned randomly to the intervention or comparison group.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants
The patients are not aware that there is an experimental group and a control group, the participants are not related and do not know each other. The conditions of the study are only known by the researcher, the therapists, and the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.

Study Groups

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Grief COVID intervention

Participants in this group will receive 12 sessions of a multi-component psychological intervention focused on the reduction of symptoms of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and post-traumatic stress, and the increase of the quality of sleep and perception of the quality of life.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Online Intervention Grief COVID-19

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The online Intervention Grief COVID-19 aims to provide to the target population a self-applied intervention based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, Behavioral Activation Therapy, and Positive Psychology, aimed at the Psychoeducation regarding the manifestations of normal grief, advice and guidance on how to find emotional relief, with the aim that survivors allow themselves to validate their experience of emotional pain and recognize it as a normal part of their process of adaptation to loss, what does grief deprived of rights consist of, specifically from the contingency of COVID-19, establish self-care measures for people in different areas of their life (physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual), direct the survivor to relocate the died in his life without his memory causing suffering, in addition to beginning to resume his life project, adjusting according to his needs and goals. The sessions will be delivered in a frequency of one session every three days.

Waiting List group

The participants in this group will not receive the treatment, just waiting list. They will be measured one time and then a second time 3 months after. Calculating when 3 months corresponding to 12 sessions will receive the intervention.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Online Intervention Grief COVID-19

The online Intervention Grief COVID-19 aims to provide to the target population a self-applied intervention based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, Behavioral Activation Therapy, and Positive Psychology, aimed at the Psychoeducation regarding the manifestations of normal grief, advice and guidance on how to find emotional relief, with the aim that survivors allow themselves to validate their experience of emotional pain and recognize it as a normal part of their process of adaptation to loss, what does grief deprived of rights consist of, specifically from the contingency of COVID-19, establish self-care measures for people in different areas of their life (physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual), direct the survivor to relocate the died in his life without his memory causing suffering, in addition to beginning to resume his life project, adjusting according to his needs and goals. The sessions will be delivered in a frequency of one session every three days.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* To have access to a communication device with access to the internet (computer, tablet, and mobile).
* To have a valid email address.
* To have basic digital skills in the use of an operational system and internet browsing.
* To understand Spanish since all the contents are in this language.
* Having suffered the loss of a loved one in a period of no less than 3 months and no longer than 6 months.
* Symptoms of General Anxiety Disorder and/or Depression and/or, grief symptoms.

Exclusion Criteria

* To have a diagnosis of psychotic disorder
* To be receiving psychological and/or pharmacological treatment during the study
* Moderate to high score on the suicide scale
* Recent attempt of suicide (3 months)
* Symptoms of posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

60 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Buenos Aires

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Universidad Internacional de Valencia

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Sofía Cristina Martínez Luna, MD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

Paulina Arenas Landgrave, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

Anabel de la Rosa, Gómez

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

Esteban Eugenio Esquivel Santoveña, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez

Rosa Olimpia Castellanos Vargas, MD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez

Luis Farfallini, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

University of Buenos Aires

Locations

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Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez

Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

Site Status

Countries

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Mexico

References

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Holland DE, Vanderboom CE, Dose AM, Moore D, Robinson KV, Wild E, Stiles C, Ingram C, Mandrekar J, Borah B, Taylor E, Griffin JM. Death and Grieving for Family Caregivers of Loved Ones With Life-Limiting Illnesses in the Era of COVID-19: Considerations for Case Managers. Prof Case Manag. 2021 Mar-Apr 01;26(2):53-61. doi: 10.1097/NCM.0000000000000485.

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Merino MD, Privado J. Positive Psychological Functioning. Evidence for a new construct and its measurement.[Funcionamiento psicológico positivo. Evidencia para un nuevo constructo y su medición]. Anales de Psicología/Annals of Psychology. 2015;31(1):45-54.

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Reference Type DERIVED
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Provided Documents

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Document Type: Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

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VIU-Grief-COVID

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id