Compassionate Imagery for People With An Intellectual Disability

A Brief Compassionate Imagery Intervention for People With an Intellectual Disability: A Case Series in a Clinical Setting

The current study aims to explore the adaptation of compassionate imagery for people with an intellectual disability who are experiencing mental health difficulties. It will explore whether participants are able to generate and use their own compassionate image, as well as exploring the participants' views of engaging in the workshop. It is an early exploratory study in what is hoped will be a longer process consisting of future feasibility and piloting work.

Between 6-10 participants who are attending the National Health Service (NHS) NHS Lanarkshire Community Learning Disability Team and are experiencing mental health difficulties will be recruited. Participants will be asked to attend a two-session workshop through which they will be supported to develop and use their own compassionate image. The research questions will be answered by obtaining descriptive data from data recording sheets completed during the sessions and by interviewing participants about their experiences of the workshop.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Intellectual Disability
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Compassionate image workshop

Detailed Description

People with an intellectual disability experience widespread stigma, mistreatment and abuse (Scior and Werner, 2016, Gravell, 2012, Hughes et al., 2012, Jones et al., 2012). These are likely to lead individuals to experience shame and self-criticism, which can contribute to the development of mental health difficulties. Indeed, many people with an intellectual disability do experience mental health difficulties (Buckles et al., 2013).

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is a psychological therapy which aims to reduce shame and self-criticism by developing a person's ability to feel compassion. It involves enabling individuals to learn to soothe themselves when they feel distressed. Compassionate imagery is one CFT technique used to do this (Gilbert, 2009). This can involve developing a mental image of a compassionate person or animal who is wise, strong, warm and non-judgemental.

The individual is encouraged to explore their experience of imagining this, which may include feeling a sense of safety, warmth and connectedness (Gilbert, 2015).

The current study aims to explore the adaptation of compassionate imagery for people with an intellectual disability who are experiencing mental health difficulties. It will explore whether participants are able to generate and use their own compassionate image, as well as exploring the participants' views of engaging in the workshop. It is an early exploratory study in what is hoped will be a longer process consisting of future feasibility and piloting work.

Between 6-10 participants who are attending the NHS Lanarkshire Community Learning Disability Team and are experiencing mental health difficulties will be recruited. Participants will be asked to attend a two-session workshop through which they will be supported to develop and use their own compassionate image. The research questions will be answered by obtaining descriptive data from data recording sheets completed during the sessions and by interviewing participants about their experiences of the workshop.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 4
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Lanarkshire
    • Kilsyth, Lanarkshire, United Kingdom, G65 4JE
      • Kilsyth Community Centre

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years to 100 years (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Open to NHS Lanarkshire's Community Learning Disability Team (CLDT) and will therefore be aged 16 or above
• Experiencing mental health difficulties

Exclusion Criteria:

• Do not have capacity to provide informed consent
• Have insufficient communication skills to engage with the tasks
• Have sensory impairments which are likely to inhibit their ability to engage with the study materials
• Actively suicidal
• Likely to be disruptive or distressed in a group setting
• Known to have previously engaged in a piece of therapeutic work involving the development of a compassionate image

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Compassionate image workshop; Participants attend a workshop through which they will be supported to develop and use their own compassionate image.	Behavioral: Compassionate image workshop; Participants attend a workshop through which they will be supported to develop and use their own compassionate image.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Compassionate image	Number of participants that are able to generate their own compassionate image	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-soothing	Number of participants that report using their compassionate image to self-soothe outside of sessions and the number that find this to be helpful.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: NHS Lanarkshire
• Collaborators: University of Glasgow
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Miriam Holm, NHS Lanarkshire

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 14, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 14, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): April 21, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 21, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 14, 2022
• Last Verified: April 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Intellectual Disability
• Other Study ID Numbers: L19092

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No
• IPD Plan Description: None will be shared

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No