Eccles, Fiona and Simpson, Jane and Fflur, Siana and Tong, Molly and Williams, Tracy and Mahon, Sandra and Mohamed, Biju and Thomas, Christopher and Lewis-Morton, Ruth (2024) Group compassion-focused therapy for psychological distress in Parkinson’s – an exploratory case series in clinical practice. International Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology, 8: 188.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Objectives: To develop and evaluate a novel compassion focused therapy (CFT) group intervention to alleviate distress for people with Parkinson’s, delivered in clinical practice. Methods: A CFT group was designed and 4 people took part as part of their clinical care. After modifications based on feedback a second group (again with 4 people) then took place. Pre-, post- and follow up measures for both groups were administered and analysed using reliable change. Interviews with participants were completed and data analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Based on experiences in the 1st group (6 weeks), the 2nd group was longer (8 weeks) and a cognitive screen was introduced to ensure participants could access the material. Experiences of the groups were generally positive; participants valued meeting others with Parkinson’s and developing new compassionfocused skills. One task was reported as too confusing. Some participants experienced changes in anxiety, depression, stress and wellbeing. The mechanism of change was uncertain as there were few changes in the predicted mechanism of self-compassion. Conclusions: A CFT group of 8 weeks was acceptable to people with Parkinson’s and has the potential to alleviate distress. Cognitive ability needs to be carefully considered. Further research is now needed to develop the intervention and proceed to a more stringent evaluative study.