Accelerated Resolution Therapy: Randomized Controlled Trial of a Complicated Grief Intervention.
Harleah G Buck, Paula Cairns, Nnadozie Emechebe and 6 others
PMID 31960705WHAT IT FOUND
Older hospice caregivers with complicated grief received a brief therapy called Accelerated Resolution Therapy.
Compared with a 4-week wait-list, grief, PTSD, and depression symptoms fell much more, and gains were still present 8 weeks after treatment.
Key findings
01Immediate ART reduced grief symptoms more than the wait-list: mean reduction 22.8 points versus 4.3 points on a 0-76 scale.
02PTSD and depression symptoms also improved much more with ART than with the wait-list.
03Among the 50 participants who received ART, improvements in grief, PTSD, and depression were still present at 8-week follow-up.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The trial enrolled only 54 older adult hospice caregivers, so it may not apply to younger, male, or more racially diverse caregivers. Most participants were female and white, so results may not generalise to men or other racial groups. The control group was a 4-week wait-list, not another active grief treatment, so it does not show ART is better than all other therapies. The ART group had less prior non-hospice psychotherapy than the control group (9.4% vs. 36.4%), which could affect the comparison. Symptoms were measured by self-report rather than formal diagnoses. Follow-up was only 8 weeks, so long-term sustainability cannot be concluded. Four of 54 participants had missing post-assessment outcome data and values were imputed.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude ART is a proven long-term treatment for all bereaved older adults. The trial was small, used a 4-week wait-list control, measured symptoms by self-report, and followed participants for only 8 weeks.