Low Intensity Internet Therapy for Chronic Illness (@LIIT.CI)

Low Intensity Internet Therapy for Chronic Illness (@LIIT.CI): Testing the Efficacy of ACT and CFT Interventions

Chronic illness (CI) presents a significant and negative effect on quality of life and mental health. Further, emotion regulation has been considered of particular importance on the determination of chronic patients' well-being. Evidence suggests that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an effective approach to improve psychological health in patients with CI. Further, there is some, although limited, evidence, that self-compassion training may be also useful in this context, and the inclusion of self-compassion elements in ACT interventions has even been the focus of attention by recent studies. Nevertheless, no study yet has compared the efficacy of these two types of intervention in CI. This is the aim of the present project - to analyse, in a low intensity eHealth intervention context, whether ACT or Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) present superiority over the other in improving mental health and illness-related outcomes in CI.

4-week online self-management intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and adapted to people with chronic medical conditions

4-week online self-management intervention based on Compassion-Focused Therapy and adapted to people with chronic medical conditions

Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-compassion (subscale of the Self-compassion scale) (13-65)

Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-cristicism (subscale of the Self-compassion scale) (13-65)

Inclusion Criteria: Age between 18 and 65 Previous diagnosis of a physical chronic medical condition Easy access to internet and to a computer Exclusion Criteria: Receiving psychological intervention Diagnosis of a severe psychiatric disorder (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) or cognitive impairment.