The iCOMMEND study is a new project which aims to develop and test a self-help, online intervention for people living with MND. It will be based on a form of psychological therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This type of therapy aims to help people focus on the things that really matter to them, alongside MND, and learn new ways of coping with distressing thoughts, feelings and challenges that come with this.
In our previous groundbreaking study, the COMMEND trial, we showed that ACT can help improve quality of life and mood in people living with MND. Unfortunately, many people experience difficulties in accessing this type of therapy for numerous reasons (such as lack of therapists).
One way of increasing access to ACT is by translating our face-to-face ACT intervention into a self-help, online ACT intervention, supported by MND healthcare professionals. However, this hasn’t been done before and so we would like to hear from people living with and affected by MND about how we can best do this.
Consequently, we are currently looking for people living with and affected by MND to join our Public Involvement Advisory Forum. This is so that we can ensure that the views and opinions of people living with and affected by MND shape what we do in this study. All members of our Public Involvement Advisory Forum will be financially compensated for their time.
If you are interested in hearing more about this, please contact Professor Rebecca Gould r.gould@ucl.ac.uk
