The effectiveness of FACT in primary care distressed patients; an RCT

Conference:

SAPC ASM 2019 - Exeter

Talk Code:

P1.10

Presenter:

Prof Bruce Arroll

Co-authors:

Arroll B, Frischtak H, Mount V, Sundram F, Susie Fletcher; Kingsford D,Bricker J.

Author institutions:

University of Auckland , Melbourne, Washington

Problem

Short time frames and lack of resources to deal with mental health distress in primary care

Approach

To use a Focussed Acceptance and Commitment therapy approach for patients with a PHQ 8 ≥ 2 in the GP waiting room and doing a quick psychosocial history (called work/love/play - available from www.brucearroll.com) followed by an intervention which gets patients to behaviourally actitvate i.e. catch up with friends, problem solve their issues and start going exercise. Each intervention is scored on a 1 to 10 basis and any score <7 is renegotiated. The control group gets just the work love play

Findings

After one week the blinded assessment of outcome reported a PHQ 8 score of 7.4 in the FACT group and 10.1 in the control group. This was statistically significant p<0.02.

Consequences

Rapid interventions with distressed patients in primary care can bring about quick and effective changes in their lives

Submitted by:

Bruce Arroll

Funding acknowledgement:

University of Auckland Sabbatical fund.