Clinical trial · Interventional
ACT for Distress in Head and Neck Cancer Patients
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Individuals With Head and Neck Cancer Experiencing Psychological Distress: A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Title: Acceptance and Commitment therapy for Individuals with Head and Neck Cancer Experiencing Psychological Distress. Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are particularly vulnerable to experiencing psychological distress . The current guidelines from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence are that cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is to be offered to adults with a long-term physical health condition experiencing anxiety and depression. CBT has been shown to have several inadequacies for individuals with physical health conditions such as cancer. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) takes an alternative approach to CBT, aiming to change a person's interaction with their thoughts rather than suppress or alter thought content. Although studies indicate encouraging findings for the effectiveness of ACT for individuals with breast cancer; the HNC- transfer-ability of findings is yet untested, and there is a need to evaluate the replicability of ACT effects in people living with HNC, given the unique challenges inherent to the disease and its treatment. This study aims to inform clinical practise by using a hermeneutic single-case efficacy design (HSCED) to answer the following questions: 1. Is there evidence of psychological change after the introduction of the ACT intervention? 2. If present, are the changes attributable to (a) ACT components, (b) common factors, and/or (c) non-therapeutic factors? The study will involve recruiting three adults with HNC from specialist HNC psychology services. Each participant will have six individual sessions of ACT and complete various process and outcome questionnaires during sessions. Following the intervention, participants will have a semi-structured interview where their views of the therapy and any changes made will be explored. Two outcome measures will be posted to participants at 1-month and 3-month post intervention.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anxiety | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Depression | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychological therapy | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (1)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Intervention
- description
- Psychological therapy.
- interventionNames
- Other: Psychological therapy
Primary outcomes (2)
- measure
- Change in psychological flexibility assessed using the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II)
- timeFrame
- up to 18 weeks
- description
- The primary goal of ACT is increasing psychological flexibility by enabling a person to change their relationship with distressing cognitions (acceptance) and do things that are personally meaningful to them (commit). The primary outcome will be an assessment of whether change has occurred using process measures (acceptance and action questionnaire: AAQ-II).
- measure
- Change in psychological flexibility assessed using the Problem Questionnaire (PQ)
- timeFrame
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: Participants taking part must: * Be above the age of 18 * Have capacity to give informed consent (assessed by the clinical psychologist within the service) * Able to understand and speak the English language * Have a diagnosis head and neck cancer * Experiencing psychological distress (assessed using anxiety and depression screening tools) * Have the ability to attend relevant hospital for study participation Exclusion Criteria: * N/A see above
References
Publications (9)
- BACKGROUNDElliott R. Hermeneutic single-case efficacy design. Psychother Res. 2002 Mar 1;12(1):1-21. doi: 10.1080/713869614. PMID 22471329
- BACKGROUNDFrampton M. Psychological distress in patients with head and neck cancer: review. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2001 Feb;39(1):67-70. doi: 10.1054/bjom.2000.0547. PMID 11178847
- BACKGROUNDHayes SC, Luoma JB, Bond FW, Masuda A, Lillis J. Acceptance and commitment therapy: model, processes and outcomes. Behav Res Ther. 2006 Jan;44(1):1-25. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2005.06.006. PMID 16300724
- BACKGROUNDHulbert-Williams NJ, Storey L, Wilson KG. Psychological interventions for patients with cancer: psychological flexibility and the potential utility of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2015;24(1):15-27. doi: 10.1111/ecc.12223. Epub 2014 Aug 6. PMID 25100576
- BACKGROUNDLang H, France E, Williams B, Humphris G, Wells M. The psychological experience of living with head and neck cancer: a systematic review and meta-synthesis. Psychooncology. 2013 Dec;22(12):2648-63. doi: 10.1002/pon.3343. Epub 2013 Jul 10. PMID 23840037
- BACKGROUNDOst LG. Efficacy of the third wave of behavioral therapies: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Behav Res Ther. 2008 Mar;46(3):296-321. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2007.12.005. Epub 2007 Dec 23. PMID 18258216
- BACKGROUNDOst LG. The efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Behav Res Ther. 2014 Oct;61:105-21. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2014.07.018. Epub 2014 Aug 19. PMID 25193001
- BACKGROUNDVilardaga R, Bricker J, McDonell M. The promise of mobile technologies and single case designs for the study of individuals in their natural environment. J Contextual Behav Sci. 2014 Apr 1;3(2):148-153. doi: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2014.03.003.