Short-term Existential Behavioural Therapy for Informal Caregivers of Palliative Patients: a Randomised Controlled Trial

Short-term Existential Behavioural Therapy for Informal Caregivers of Palliative Patients: a Randomised Controlled Trial

The purpose of the study is to test the effectiveness of a short-term manualised individual psychotherapy, called Existential Behavioural Therapy (EBT), to prevent depression in informal caregivers of palliative patients.

The investigators have developed and pilot-tested a short-term manualised individual psychotherapy, called Existential Behavioural Therapy (EBT), to reduce psychological distress in informal caregivers of palliative patients. The investigators propose to conduct a two-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test the effectiveness of EBT against usual care for the reduction of distress and the promotion of quality of life.

Two one-to-one manualised psychotherapeutic sessions will be compared to a treatment-as-usual control group.Treatment-as-usual includes two supportive sessions.

The design will be an unblinded RCT consisting of two conditions (EBT and Treatment-as-usual), with assessment at pre- and post-treatment and follow-ups at four weeks and six months. The trial will take place in the Clinic of Palliative Care, University of Munich (Klinik und Poliklinik für Palliativmedizin der LMU München).

Inclusion Criteria:

• ≥ 21 years of age
• informal caregivers of palliative patients at last stage of life and during bereavement;
• fluent German language skills

Exclusion Criteria:

• psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenic disorder, psychotic disorder etc.;
• pronounced cognitive impairment e.g. delirium, dementia