Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for IBD Patients

May 31, 2022 updated by: Christos Triantos, University Hospital of Patras

The Impact of Group Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy on Disease Severity and Psychosocial Functioning of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients commonly suffer from disturbed psychosocial functioning and poor quality of life compared to other chronic disease patients. Clinicians are becoming growingly aware that addressing patients' psychological difficulties may improve disease management, however, there is not adequate evidence regarding the effect of psychotherapeutic interventions on psychosocial functioning and disease-related clinical and laboratory parameters. The aim of the present study is the evaluation of the effects of a targeted, cognitive behavioral psychotherapeutic intervention on symptom severity, levels of psychological distress and quality of life and inflammation and disease activity indices in IBD patients. An additional aim is the detection of psychological and biomedical parameters which may be associated with these effects.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Background Inflammatory bowel disease patients report increased levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms which are associated with poorer health-related quality of life (QoL). In addition, they commonly experience disturbed self- and body-image thus being vulnerable to interpersonal difficulties and sexual dysfunction. There are several studies reporting that the presence of co-morbid depression is more strongly associated with increased financial cost and hospitalization rates, worse treatment compliance and major QoL deficits compared to disease activity. For this reason, the current ECCO-EFCCA patient guidelines strongly recommend regular psychiatric evaluation as a necessary part of patients' standard follow-up and put particular emphasis on treating anxiety and depressive symptoms with the use of appropriate pharmacological or psychosocial interventions. However, relevant literature is relatively sparse, lacking wide-scale randomized trials focusing on the efficacy of antidepressants and psychotherapy not only on alleviating patients' psychological distress but also on improving IBD clinical and laboratory severity indices. More specifically, a recent systematic review identified only one randomized clinical trial on the effect of antidepressants in IBD patients. In a similar vein, there is a limited number of randomized clinical trials focusing on the effect of brief psychotherapeutic interventions on patients' psychological burden, QoL and disease progression.

The importance of different immunoregulatory pathways mediated by several immunological cells subtypes and cytokines in the regulation of IBD has been demonstrated the last years. Cytokines have been directly implicated in the pathogenesis of IBD in genetic and immunological studies, and they establish a crucial role in controlling intestinal inflammation and the associated clinical symptoms of IBD. Despite the fundamental role of cytokines in controlling mucosal inflammation in IBD, to our knowledge, inflammation indices have never been evaluated as study end-points in investigations focusing on the role of psychotherapy on patients' QoL.

Research hypotheses Our primary research hypothesis is that brief psychotherapeutic intervention will reduce IBD patients' gastrointestinal symptoms and psychological distress and improve their sexual functioning and QoL. A secondary hypothesis is that the observed improvement in psychosocial functioning will be accompanied by alterations in inflammation and disease activity indices.

Research aim In this context, the aim of the current prospective randomized controlled study will be the measurement of the effects of brief group cognitive behavioral psychotherapy on gastrointestinal symptom severity, psychological distress, sexual functioning, QoL and inflammation and disease activity indices in IBD patients. An additional aim will be the detection of psychological and biomedical parameters which are associated with these effects.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
79

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Greece
      • Patras, Greece, 26504
        • Department of Gastroenterology

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult outpatients suffering from Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis according to the ECCO-EFCCA Patient Guidelines, in both statuses "currently experiencing a flare/relapse" or "not currently experiencing a flare/relapse (in remission)"

Exclusion Criteria:

  • major psychopathology
  • severe cognitive or neurological deficits
  • cancer
  • other severe chronic diseases or disabilities
  • lack of fluency in the Greek language

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy sessions will be conducted at an appropriately accommodated office of the Psychiatry Department in groups of 6-10 patients and will be coordinated by a qualified psychologist of the research team. Each session will be of 90 minutes duration. The initial two sessions will be psycho-educational and the remaining sessions will be based on the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In total, the psychotherapeutic intervention will last for 6 months with participants attending weekly sessions for the first 3 months and monthly follow-up sessions for the next 3 months.
Behavioral: Group cognitive behavioral therapy
Group sessions based on the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and adjusted for chronic disease patients
Placebo Comparator: Standard care
Regular brief follow-ups by the gastroenterologists and the nurse of the research team
Behavioral: Group cognitive behavioral therapy
Group sessions based on the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and adjusted for chronic disease patients

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health Survey 36 Short Form (SF36)
Time Frame: 18 months
The SF36 is a self-report, generic quality of life instrument, which includes eight multi-item scales (36 items) that evaluate the extent to which an individual's health limits his or her physical, emotional, and social well-being. The SF-36 covers eight domains of HRQOL, namely physical functioning, role limitations due to physical problems, bodily pain, general health perception, vitality, social functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems, and mental health. Scores on each subscale range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating a better quality of life. Sub-scales scores are calculated according to an algorithm described in the SF36 manual.
18 months
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)
Time Frame: 18 months
This is a widely used psychometric tool, comprised of 14 items, 7 items for anxiety and 7 items for depression. Each subscale is scored from 0-21. Higher scores indicate greater severity of depressive and anxious symptoms
18 months
Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI)
Time Frame: 18 months
The FSFI is a 19-item questionnaire which measures 6 domains, namely sexual desire, arousal (both subjective and physiologic), lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain. The 6 domain scores are summed to produce a full-scale score. For all FSFI domains, higher values indicate a better level of functioning
18 months
International Index of Erectile Function(IIEF)
Time Frame: 18 months
This is a 15-item, validated questionnaire which has proven extremely useful in the clinical assessment of erectile dysfunction and has been widely used in clinical trials to evaluate treatment outcomes. Each question can be awarded a score between 0 and 5 and the questionnaire as a whole addresses the main four domains of male sexual functioning (erectile functioning, orgasmic functioning, sexual desire and intercourse satisfaction) along with a fifth component which encompasses the concept of overall sexual satisfaction
18 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Crohn's disease activity index
Time Frame: 6 months
This is an index measuring the severity of Crohn's Disease. Index values of 150 and below are associated with quiescent disease; values above that indicate active disease, and values above 450 are seen with extremely severe disease.
6 months
Truelove and Witts' severity index
Time Frame: 6 months
This is an index which classifies adult patients with ulcerative colitis into 3 categories (mild, moderate, severe) based on clinical signs and laboratory values.
6 months
Feacal calprotectin
Time Frame: 6 months
Faecal calprotectin is a biochemical measurement of the protein calprotectin in the stool. Elevated faecal calprotectin indicates the migration of neutrophils to the intestinal mucosa, which occurs during intestinal inflammation, including inflammation caused by inflammatory bowel disease.
6 months
Serum cytokines levels
Time Frame: 6 months
Cytokines are chemical substances involved in inflammatory processes. Their levels are altered in chronic inflammation such as in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University Hospital of Patras

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Christos Triantos, PhD, University of Patras, Medical School

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
February 21, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
May 31, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
May 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
September 9, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 9, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
September 12, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
June 2, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 31, 2022

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 326/15.05.2018

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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