My Anxiety Care

The psychotherapy program will be tested in a randomised control trial. This means that if you are eligible to participate in the study, you will be randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. If you are selected to the intervention group, you will be asked to attend 6 weekly sessions of psychotherapy. If you are in the control group, you will continue your usual care as prior to entering the study.

If you have been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia and if you are currently experiencing any anxiety symptoms similar to what has been described on the previous page, we invite you to participate. We will do an initial screen to check your eligibility for our study. Participation in our study is voluntary, and you may withdraw at any point.

You will need an internet connection and a device to perform video-conferencing. This device can be a computer with a web camera, a tablet, iPad or smart phone. We can provide you with a smart device if needed to access the program and practice in-between sessions.

We will provide you with a manual with clear instructions, a video link with step by step instructions, and support over the phone to help you setup your equipment for video-conferencing.

• Filling out questionnaires during weeks 1, 8, 20 and 32 of the trial.
• Participating in weekly therapy sessions for 6 weeks delivered via video-conferencing or continuing your usual care, depending on the group you are allocated to.
• If allocated to the therapy group, you will be asked to practice techniques learnt in therapy sessions using smart devices.
• You may be asked to give us feedback on the ease of use of technology as well as the content of the therapeutic sessions.

We also invite a support person to participate if you have one. A support person can be your partner, spouse, family member, friend or anyone who identifies as your carer. Support persons are not required to live with you. They can join your therapy session remotely via video-conferencing.

The support person is encouraged to participate in therapy sessions and practice the introduced techniques with you (e.g. deep breathing techniques for relaxation). Support persons will also be given a questionnaire to complete during weeks 1, 8, 20 and 32 of the trial.

If you do not have a support person or if they decline to participate, you can still participate in the study.

Your participation and feedback will help us improve this program.

You will be given a $50 electronic gift card at completion of baseline assessments and another $50 electronic gift card after completing each of the post-assessments, regardless of whether you were selected to the intervention or control group.

The Dementia and Neuro Mental Health Research Unit led by Associate Professor Nadeeka Dissanayaka, is part of The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research.

We facilitate a pipeline of clinical research programs to meet the increasing demands of our growing ageing population and age-related progressive brain diseases such as Dementia and Parkinson’s disease. This project is conducted in collaboration with School of Psychology, UQ. Our goal is to accelerate discovery of treatment and improve quality of life for patients, and their families.

We thank Lions for their continuous support and all study participants for their involvement. 

We thank TalkVia our industry partner who is assisting with the development of the technology for the project.

This study is funded by a Medical Research Future Fund Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission grant. 

This study has received RBWH HREC approval (HREC/2022/QRBW/83925) and UQ HREC approval (2022/HE000862).