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CompletedNCT04300816CALMSUpdated Jun 23, 2023

Coping and Adjusting to Living With Multiple Sclerosis

An interventional study of CBT for Uncertainty Tolerance and Traditional CBT in Multiple Sclerosis, sponsored by University of Washington. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-06-23.

Sponsored by University of Washington · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 4 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Oct 2019, registered Mar 2020).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
242
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

The purpose of this project is to test a brief, telephone-based psychological intervention, CBT-UT, to improve the ability to tolerate uncertainty-and thereby to reduce distress-in people with a recent diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There are three treatment arms for this study. Participants will receive either (1) CBT for Uncertainty Tolerance, (2) Traditional CBT, or (3) treatment as usual.

Read the detailed description

Despite substantial improvements in diagnosis and treatment, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains an unpredictable disease. Although some physicians can make some predictions about expected progression, the variable course of exacerbations makes it almost impossible to predict how MS will develop or affect function over time. As a result, people with MS must learn to live in a state of chronic uncertainty and the ability to tolerate and cope with this kind of uncertainty is central to quality of life with MS. Individuals who require certainty about the future and are not able to tolerate ambiguity are said to be high in a personality trait known as intolerance of uncertainty (IU). There is a significant gap in MS clinical intervention that necessitates attention. An intervention that specifically targets IU, is developed for people recently diagnosed with MS, and can be provided remotely via telehealth can make a significant impact for this population. Study aims include: (1) to determine the efficacy of CBT-UT relative to traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (tCBT) or treatment as usual (TAU) in people diagnosed with MS in the past 3 years; and (2) To increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the intervention effects.

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Conditions studied

  • Multiple Sclerosis
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In context

Multiple Sclerosis

3,460 studies on the registry are indexed under Multiple Sclerosis; 661 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 242 is above the median of 50 across 2,342 interventional studies indexed under Multiple Sclerosis.

Browse Multiple Sclerosis studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Washington is the lead sponsor of 1,397 studies on the registry; 225 are open to participants now.

Of its 154 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 132 (86%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Adults over 18 years of age
  • MS diagnosis using revised McDonald Criteria
  • Able to read, speak, and understand English
  • At least mild psychological distress evidenced by (1) a score of 20 or higher on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale OR (2) a score greater than or equal to 5 on the Perceived Stress Scale.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Severe cognitive impairment defined as one or more error on the Six-Item Screener
  • Psychiatric condition or symptoms that would interfere with participation, specifically (1) current, active suicidal ideation with current intent to harm oneself, (2) current psychosis, or (3) current mania.
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
242 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    CBT-UT

    Seven telephone-based sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy for uncertainty tolerance (CBT-UT) delivered over seven weeks.

    Behavioral: CBT for Uncertainty Tolerance

  • Active comparator
    tCBT

    Seven telephone-based sessions of traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (tCBT) delivered over seven weeks.

    Behavioral: Traditional CBT

  • No intervention
    TAU

    Participant continues with their lives as they normally would.

Interventions

  • BehavioralCBT for Uncertainty Tolerance

    Participants work one-on-one with an interventionist. Treatment sessions focus on understanding the difference between the controllable and uncontrollable aspects of MS, ability to tolerate not knowing exactly what the future will hold, setting personal goals for what "accepting" what MS will look like, and finding ways to live in conjunction with personal values despite the MS diagnosis.

    Also known as: CBT-UT

  • BehavioralTraditional CBT

    Participants work one-on-one with an interventionist. Treatment sessions focus on goal setting, positive activities, identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts, and bolstering social support.

    Also known as: tCBT

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Questionnaire: Level of MS Acceptance as measured by the Acceptance of Chronic Health Conditions, MS Version Questionnaire.

    This is a self-reported measure of perceived MS Acceptance. Greater scores represent greater MS Acceptance.

    Time frame: 6 Months

  2. Questionnaire: Level of anxiety as measured by the Global Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7).

    This is a self-reported measure of perceived anxiety. Greater scores represent greater levels of anxiety.

    Time frame: 6 Months

  3. Questionnaire: Level of depression as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).

    This is a self-reported measure of perceived depression. Greater scores represent greater levels of depression.

    Time frame: 6 Months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Demographic: MS Progression Type. Measured by self-reported type of MS.

    This is a self-reported demographic question. Options include: Relapsing-Remitting, Primary-Progressive, Secondary-Progressive, Progressive-Relapsing, and Don't Know.

    Time frame: Baseline

  2. Demographic: Biological Sex. Measured by self-report.

    This is a self-reported demographic question. Options include: Male, Female, Transgender, and If not listed explain.

    Time frame: Baseline

07

Study locations

1 site
  • University of Washington
    Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — The investigators propose to make available to interested researchers a data file (de-identified to remove any variables from which it would be possible to identify any individual participant) any data used in a published article, at the time that it is accepted for publication. That is, at the request of an outside researcher, the investigators will create and share a data file that includes all of the variables used in the published article and a list of the variables in the data file (along with their variable labels). Any investigators who request these data will receive (1) a copy of the published article (which will describe the source of the data); (2) the variable list/variable labels; and (3) a data set.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 23, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04300816
Lead sponsor
University of Washington
Collaborators
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Responsible party
Ivan Molton (Professor, School of Medicine: Rehabilitation Medicine: Psychology, University of Washington) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 9, 2020
Start date
Oct 30, 2019
Primary completion
Nov 11, 2022
Completion
Nov 11, 2022
Last update
Jun 23, 2023

Study contacts

Ivan Molton, PhD
principal investigator · University of Washington

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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