Improving Treatment for Headache by Helping Sufferers Enlist Support from Family and Friends.

Evaluating the impact of incorporating social support into cognitive behaviour therapy for tension-type headache, by measuring the primary outcomes of: (a) daily headache activity; (b) headache medication use; and (c) impact of headache on daily living.

Status

Not yet recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12607000098437

Enrollment

150

Registered

2007-01-30

Start date

2007-02-05

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Research has shown that individuals suffering from recurrent headaches have inadequate social support. Research results suggest that it should be possible to increase the effectiveness of headache treatment for individuals who have inadequate support by specifically helping them to increase the size of their social networks and to derive more support from their networks. The proposed study compares a pychological treatment (cognitive behaviour therapy) with a focus on social support, with the same treatment given for the same number of sessions but without a focus on social support. It is predicted that the former approach will work best for individuals with inadequate social support and the latter approach will work best for those with adequate social support. Tension-type headaches are the most common type of primary headache and have the highest socioeconomic impact. The study results will have important implications for our understanding of how tension-type headaches can be managed.

Interventions

Intervention 1: 12 weekly sessions of cognitive behaviour therapy, administered in an individual format by a registered psychologist. Each session will be 50 minutes in duration. Intervention 2: 8 weekly sessions of cognitive behaviour therapy and 4 weekly sessions of social support training, administered in an individual format by a registered psychologist. Each session will be 50 minutes in duration.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Factorial

Primary purpose

Treatment

Masking

Blinded (masking used)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: (i) diagnosed by a neurologist as either ‘frequent episodic tension–type headache’ or ‘chronic tension-type headache’; (ii) minimum of 6 headache days per month; (iii) minimum headache chronicity of 12 months, and pattern of headache symptoms stable over last 6 months.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: (i) pregnant, planning pregnancy during trial period or lactating; (ii) substantial medical or psychiatric comorbidities that are deemed likely to interfere with ability to fully participate; (iii) currently taking headache prophylactic medication (one month wash-out period required).

Outcome results