Research Opportunity: Self-help tool for managing IBD

Distress, anxiety and depression are common in people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Symptoms such as diarrhoea and pain, medication, and investigations can all cause fear and embarrassment and can be difficult to manage for some people with IBD, particularly when they are newly diagnosed. Many people are diagnosed between the ages of 15-40 years, which can have an impact on education and employment. Successful adjustment to, and management of, IBD is important to enable people to achieve a good quality of life.

IBD clinics are not currently funded to offer psychological support for people with IBD to aid adjustment and self management. The research team have developed a new IBD specific self-management manual which is unlike any other psychological intervention currently available for people with IBD. It has been developed in collaboration with people with IBD, IBD nurses, and experts on self management. Areas such as stress, managing difficult or embarrassing symptoms and medical procedures, promoting good health behaviours, developing effective social support, and coping strategies will be addressed. Each chapter of the manual will address a different topic, and provide guidance on setting goals, and accompanying tasks.

Researchers are looking for participants who have been diagnosed with IBD to complete one chapter of the manual each week in their own time at home over the course of eight weeks as well as fill in pre- and post-questionnaires. 

This is a pilot randomised controlled trial with an intervention group and a waitlist control group. This means that up to 60 people with IBD will be recruited, 30 of which will be randomly assigned to receive the manual immediately (intervention group) while the other 30 will have to wait for the trial to be completed before they receive the manual. Participants allocated to the intervention group will receive three telephone support calls from a healthcare professional. The calls are scheduled to last 30 minutes and will be recorded for the purpose of quality control. 

For more details or if you are interested in participating please contact Dr Anja Fischer 

Email anja.fischer@kcl.ac.uk or Telephone  020 7188 9558

Further study details include:

Start and end dates of study: May 2016 until September 2016
Funder: Crohn’s and Colitis UK
Ethics approval obtained: Yes
Lead Researchers: Dr Anja Fischer and Dr Lyndsay Hughes