A study protocol for Truce: a pragmatic controlled trial of a seven-week acceptance and commitment therapy program for young people who have a parent with cancer
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BACKGROUND: This paper presents the rationale and study protocol for a pragmatic controlled effectiveness trial of Truce, a prevention-based selective intervention targeting the significant mental health needs of young people who have a parent with cancer. METHODS/DESIGN: Truce is a seven week, facilitated, face-to-face group program. The design is a 2 groups (intervention vs control) x 3 (pre-treatment vs post-treatment vs 2 month follow-up) repeated measures. Allocation to groups will be dependent upon recruitment; when groups have sufficient numbers, they will be assigned to the intervention condition, but participants recruited without a viable group will be assigned to the wait-list control condition. Eligible participants are young people aged 14 to 22 years who have a parent diagnosed with cancer within the last 5 years. Wait-list controls are offered the opportunity to participate in the program once they have completed their follow-up questionnaires. The target sample size is 65 participants in each condition. The primary hypothesis is that participants in the intervention will show significant reductions in distress and increases in psychological well-being relative to participants in the wait-list control group, and these effects will continue through two-month follow-up. Mixed-models analysis of variance will be used to measure differences between the two conditions. Secondary analyses will focus on variables which may relate to the effectiveness of the intervention: ACT-related concepts of experiential avoidance and mindfulness, family functioning, unmet needs and demographic variables. We will also assess program fidelity and satisfaction. DISCUSSION: The development and evaluation of a manualised intervention for young people with a parent with cancer responds to a gap in the provision of empirically-based psychological support for this vulnerable group. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12615000761561. Registered 22(nd) July 2015.
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Introducing values to cancer patients may motivate them to follow group sessions and be more committed to sessions' related exercises, which confirms a consistent decrease in FOP by T3.
“introducing values to cancer patients may motivate them to follow group sessions and be more committed to sessions' related exercises, which confirms a consistent decrease in FOP by T 3 .34,35,37”
From A randomized clinical trial: Efficacy of group-based acceptance and commitment therapy program for breast cancer patients with high fear of progression (2024) · cites this paper as [37]
The Background sections on ACT and the Truce sessions describe identifying values and taking action consistent with them. But Truce is a study protocol for young people who have a parent with cancer, not cancer patients; its Fidelity measures propose tracking attendance and homework engagement, not showing that values improve either. It reports no decrease in fear of progression by T3. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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“34,35,37 Moreover, life with challenges is unavoidable even after therapy; therefore, patients will face thoughts about cancer progression or misunderstanding the normal body sensations.”
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- Authors
- Patterson, P., McDonald, F. E. J., Ciarrochi, J., Hayes, L., Tracey, D., Wakefield, C. E., & White, K.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Australian Catholic University (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Western Sydney University (AU)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Patterson, Pandora
- ORCID
- Venue
- BMC Psychology
- Published
- 2015-09-09
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 31-31
- ISSN
- 2050-7283 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4564955
- OpenAlex
- W1821804882
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 5.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Australian Catholic University
- Australian Rotary Health
- University of New South Wales
- University of Western Sydney
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council (1067501)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment therapy, psychological distress, psychological well-being, experiential avoidance, mindfulness, family functioning, unmet needs, group intervention, implementation fidelity, program satisfaction
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Australia, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Neoplasms, New Zealand, Parents, Surveys and Questionnaires, Research Design, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
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