COMMEND

This study will investigate the acceptability and effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for people with Motor Neuron Disease (MND). Qualitative methods will be used to inform the development and adaptation of the intervention and to investigate its acceptability and feasibility. The initial development stage is focused around gaining understanding of how to adapt ACT for people with MND through workshops and interviews with therapists, people with MND, and caregivers. A manual will then be developed to guide therapists on how to deliver a form of ACT that is adapted to suit the needs of people with MND.

In the adaptation phase, qualitative methodologies will be used to explore the experience of the intervention from the perspectives of people with motor neuron disease and therapists delivering the intervention, with interviews taking place after participants have experienced several sessions of the intervention. Learning from these interviews will then be used to inform further development of therapist manuals and patient materials for use in a randomised controlled trial of the intervention.

By gaining a clear understanding in the initial stages of how people with motor neuron disease engage with and respond to treatment, and their preferences for therapy adaptations and delivery, the final intervention will be grounded in the perspectives and needs of those receiving it and acceptability will be optimised.