Effectiveness of an Online Psychoeducation Program for Improving Coping in People With a High Level of Dissociative Symptoms: A Pilot Randomized Waitlist-controlled Trial

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Dissociation
• Interventions: Behavioral: Online psychoeducational program

• Registration Number: NCT05519748
• Lead Sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong

Brief Summary

Subject Population Our study's target population is people with pathological dissociation in the community.

Research Design A pilot randomized waitlist-controlled trial will investigate the effects of an online psychoeducation program on coping, symptom management, and self-efficacy of people with pathological dissociation immediately (posttest-1) and 2-month (posttest-2) post-intervention. Supplementary semi-structured interviews will be conducted for process evaluation. The analysis and reporting of the trial will strictly follow the CONSORT guidelines.

Instrument The primary outcome of our study is the coping ability of individuals with pathological dissociation, which will be assessed by the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE). The secondary outcome measures are dissociative symptoms, emotional regulation, and self-efficacy, which would be assessed by the Dissociative Experiences Scale-Taxon (DES-T), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) accordingly.

Procedure The online psychoeducation program is developed based on an integrative theoretical framework that integrates the Stress and Coping model, Cognitive-Behavioural Theory, Bandura's self-efficacy theory, and findings of our previous feasibility studies on this psychoeducational program. Participants will be recruited via posting on social media and online forums. A 16-session online psychoeducation program will be delivered to the participants in eight weeks.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-08-22
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-08-25
• Study First Posted: 2022-08-29
• Study Start: 2022-09-01
• Primary Completion: 2023-11-30
• Study Completion: 2023-11-30
• Status Verified: 2024-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-05-23
• Last Update Posted: 2024-05-24

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 101

Inclusion Criteria

• agree to give informed consent and participate
• aged 18 or above
• self-reported symptoms or experiences of pathological dissociation
• screened positive on the Chinese version of the DES-T (i.e., DES-T score 20 or above) at a baseline screening
• able to understand and communicate in Chinese-Cantonese
• have access to the internet.

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Exclusion Criteria

• Individuals who have a reading disorder, cognitive impairment, dementia, or intellectual disabilities
• Individuals who are participating in any research studies
• Individuals who had participated in our previous feasibility study of the same intervention

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Online psychoeducational program	Online psychoeducational program	The intervention group will receive an online psychoeducational program for 8 weeks. The psychoeducation package consists of 16 different sets of reading materials and post-session writing/reflection exercises, which will be delivered to the participants twice a week. The program is designed to be a brief, trauma-informed, dissociation-focused education package that aims to enable users to better understand and cope with their post-traumatic and dissociative reactions and related life challenges. There are specific psychoeducation elements in each session, such as: (1) safety issues planning, (2) understanding the impacts of trauma and stress, (3) understanding the concept of dissociation and integration of the personality, (4) identifying and coping with the post-traumatic and dissociative symptoms, (5) identifying trauma-related cognitive distortions.
Waitlist control	Online psychoeducational program	The waitlist control group will receive an online psychoeducational program for 8 weeks a week after the completion of the two-month follow-up in the intervention group. The psychoeducation package is identical to the program in the intervention group.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE)	Immediately and two months after completion of the intervention in the experimental group	Change in participants' coping strategies, as assessed using the Brief-COPE. This measure has 28 items and is a commonly used self-report measure of coping strategies. The Chinese version of the Brief-COPE had excellent internal consistency, test-retest reliability and content validity. Higher scores indicate more significant use of that specific coping strategy.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Dissociative Experiences Scale-Taxon (DES-T)	Immediately and two months after completion of the intervention in the experimental group	Change in participants' pathological dissociative experiences, as assessed using the DES-T. This measure has 8 items and can be used to screen for pathological dissociative experiences. The Chinese version of the DES-T demonstrated good construct validity and good discriminant validity between participants with and without clinically diagnosed dissociative disorders, with a cut-off score of 20. Higher scores indicate more frequent dissociative symptoms.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong