Research so far on this course ...

We have conducted > 3 trials of this course

More than 2,000 participants have enrolled in this course

We have published > 4 studies evaluating this course

Course for Atrial Fibrillation (AF)

Background

We have been developing a course, call the Chronic Conditions Course, for people with a broad range of different chronic health conditions over the last 10 years. We now want to test this course specifically for people struggling with atrial fibrillation (AF) by offering this course for people struggling with AF.

The course is a free, online and internet-delivered program, which is designed to provide good information and teach practical skills for managing the impact of chronic health conditions on day-to-day activities and emotional wellbeing. This includes managing the impacts of strong or distressing physical symptoms.

Over the years, we have had numerous participants with atrial fibrillation and other cardiac conditions participate in the course, with encouraging results and good feedback. However, we have not evaluated the course specifically for people with AF. This is the purpose of the current trial of the course.

To learn more about chronic health conditions in general, please click here.

Who is the course suitable for?

The course is suitable for adults:

Aged 18 and older and living in Australia
Who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF) by a doctor
Whose medical management of their AF is stable (e.g., no major interventions or investigations are currently planned)
Are experiencing difficulties managing the impacts of AF on their day-to-day activities and/or emotional wellbeing
Who want to learn information and skills to limit the impacts of AF and/or improve their emotional wellbeing
Who have at least 2 hours per week to spend working on the Course and practicing the skills taught during the Course.

Unfortunately, we cannot include people who are currently suicidal or have a more immediate medical condition requiring medical management. We also cannot include people who do not have access to the Internet or a tablet or laptop device.

We also strongly recommend people discuss their participation in this course with their GP and other doctors. Maintaining a good working relationship with your doctors is essential when you have AF and they can help you decide whether this program is going to be suitable for you.

What does the course involve?

The course involves:

5 online lessons that provide information and teach practical self-management skills
DIY Guides to help understand and practice those skills
Lots of Additional Resources and Case Stories and examples from others
The option of brief weekly contact with a clinical psychologist

The course is delivered over 8 weeks and is designed to provide good information and teach practical skills for managing the impact of significant conditions, like atrial fibrillation (AF). The course is not designed to 'treat' or 'cure' chronic health conditions. However, the information and skills covered have been found in 100s of research trials to be essential for people with significant chronic health conditions, including people struggling with significant AF.

The course aims to provide the information and skills that you would normally receive from a Clinical Psychologist, if you attended a specialist treatment facility. However, because many people cannot access these facilities, we are developing and testing this internet-delivered Course - our goal is to make it as helpful as possible and to make it freely and widely available.

What have we found so far?

We have now had a lot of people complete this course. Participants are reporting improvements in:

Day-to-day activity levels and abilities
Stress and anxiety
Low mood and depression
How they manage strong physical symptoms (e.g., pain, fatigue)

We have had numerous people participate in the course with AF and other cardiac conditions. However, we have never examined the course specifically for people with AF.

Some of the key papers we have published on this course are:

Dear BF, Scott AJ, Fogliati R, Gandy M, Karin E, Dudeney J, Nielssen O, McDonald S, Heriseanu AI, Bisby MA, Sharpe L, Jones MP, Ali S, Titov N. (2022) The Chronic Conditions Course: A randomised controlled trial of an internet-delivered trhansdiagnostic psychological intervention for people with chronic health conditions. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 91, 265-276.
Dear B, Fogliati V, Fogliati R, Gandy M, McDonald S, Talley N, Titov N, Jones M. (2018). Transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) for adults with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID): a feasibility open trial. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 108, 61-69..
Gandy M, Karin E, Fogliati VJ, McDonald S, Titov N, Dear BF. (2016). A feasibility trial of an Internet-delivered and transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program for anxiety, depression, and disability among adults with epilepsy. Epilepsia, 57, 1887 – 96.
Mehta S, Hadjistavropoulos H, Nugent M, Karin E, Titov N, Dear BF. (2020). Guided internet-delivered cognitive-behaviour therapy for persons with spinal cord injury: a feasibility trial. Spinal Cord, 58, 544 – 52.

What is the current trial or study looking at?

Every time we offer a course we offer it as a part of a trial or study. This means that participants are helping us to answer an important research question while they participate in our courses.

The current trial is examining the preliminary helpfulness of the Chronic Conditions Course for people with atrial fibrillation.

You can read more about the current trial by reading the Participant Information and Consent Form Statement.

When is the next course being offered?

In Australia?

We are currently taking registrations of interest for the course. We will contact all registrants once we are ready to run the course. We plan to run the course throughout 2025, starting around June.

If you are interested in the course, please consider registering your interest below. Or visiting the site again in a couple of weeks to check the status of the course.

Outside Australia?

You might be interested in participating in another trial of our Chronic Conditions Course, which is available to people living outside of Australia. You can read more here.