Empathy and (Self-)Compassion in Parkinson's Disease Patients and Caregivers

NCT ID: NCT07097298

Last Updated: 2025-07-31

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 30 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-07-31
• Study Completion Date: 2027-07-31

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to improve quality of life in Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients by increasing their empathy and their (self-)compassion. The main question it aims to answer is:

Does the level of quality of life in PD patients and caregivers improve after empathy/(self-)compassion training?

Participants will be delivered a 6-week empathy and compassion training (mindfulness, writing and poetry exercises addressing the cognitive, emotional, motivational and behavioural components of (self-)compassion) and will also be asked to answer questionnaires before and after the training

Conditions

Parkinson Disease(PD)

Keywords

Empathy; (self-)compassion; Parkinson disease (PD)

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Empathy and (self-)compassion training

A 6-week empathy and compassion training will be designed and delivered involving PD patients and caregivers. During the compassion training participants will do mindfulness, writing and poetry exercises addressing the cognitive, emotional, motivational and behavioural components of (self-)compassion. The training will be designed in order to address both self-compassion and compassion. We expect to conduct 1 session at the beginning and 1 session at the end of the program with exercises to do at home for 6 weeks, assigned as tasks based on the needs of patients and their caregivers

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

empathy and compassion training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

A 6-week empathy and compassion training will be designed and delivered involving PD patients and caregivers. During the compassion training participants will do mindfulness, writing and poetry exercises

Interventions

empathy and compassion training

A 6-week empathy and compassion training will be designed and delivered involving PD patients and caregivers. During the compassion training participants will do mindfulness, writing and poetry exercises

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Diagnosis of PD
• Hoehn and Yahr scale, stage ≤ 3
• Mini Mental State Examination with a score ≥ 26
• Able to give informed consent as documented by signature
• At least, secondary school education
• To have a regular caregiver at home

• Taking care of the patient on a regular basis, i.e., at least 3 days per week
• Being caregiver of the patients for at least 3 months
• At least, secondary school education
• Written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

• Any medical condition that is not PD, such as drug induced parkinsonism
• Major depression, dysthymia, or according to DSM-V
• Other neurological or psychiatric diseases
• Neuropsychological scores compatible with the diagnosis of early dementia
• Inability to follow the procedures of the study, e.g. due to language problems, psychological disorders, etc

For CAREGIVERS:

• Minimum Eligible Age: 50 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 80 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

CTU-EOC Clinical Trial Unit Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Alain Kaelin

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Alain Kaelin

Prof. MD PhD

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Istituto di Neuroscienze Cliniche della Svizzera Italiana, EOC

Lugano, , Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

Central Contacts

Alain Kaelin, Prof. MD PhD

Role: CONTACT

Phone: +41918117342

Email: alain.kaelin@eoc.ch

Facility Contacts

Alain Kaelin, Prof. MD PhD

Role: primary

Other Identifiers

EMPCOMP-PD-001

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id