An interventional study of Awareness, Courage, and Love Groups and Mutual Help Meetings in Loneliness, sponsored by London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 60 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-09-24.
Sponsored by London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this pilot study is to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a group loneliness intervention in geriatric psychiatry inpatients. This type of group loneliness intervention is based on functional analytic psychotherapy and is called Awareness, Courage, and Love Groups.
The objective of our clinical trial is to adapt, implement, and evaluate a type of loneliness group intervention called Awareness, Courage, and Love Groups for older adults in a psychiatric unit. The following research questions will be answered: (a) Are ACL groups with geriatric psychiatry inpatients feasible and acceptable? (b) Do such ACL groups demonstrate preliminary efficacy?
London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's is the lead sponsor of 309 studies on the registry; 126 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Treatment group will receive Awareness, Courage, and Love Groups for loneliness.
Behavioral: Awareness, Courage, and Love Groups
Control group will receive treatment as usual in the form of Mutual Help Meetings.
Other: Mutual Help Meetings
Groups based on the Awareness, Courage, and Love framework from functional analytic psychotherapy
Groups based on treatment as usual where patients gather to discuss how they can help others on the ward, and make requests for how others can help them.
Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale (IOS)
Brief single-item pictorial measure of social closeness. The minimum value is 1, the maximum value is 7, and higher scores indicate a better outcome.
Time frame: Up to 2 months
UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6)
Brief measure of loneliness. The minimum value is 6, the maximum value is 24, and higher scores indicate a worse outcome.
Time frame: Up to 2 months
Relational Health Indices (RHI)
Brief measure of group relational health. The minimum value is 8, the maximum value is 40, and higher scores indicate a better outcome.
Time frame: Up to 2 months
Quantitative Program Satisfaction
Brief measure of program satisfaction. The minimum value is 0, the maximum value is 16, and higher scores indicate a better outcome.
Time frame: Up to 2 months
Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale
1 item pictorial scale of subjective wellbeing from 0 (minimum) to 10 (maximum). A higher score indicates a better outcome.
Time frame: Up to 2 months
Sacred Moment Qualities (SMQ)
Brief measure of perceived sacred qualities, adapted from Pargament et al. (2014). The minimum value is 11, the maximum value is 55, and higher scores indicate a better outcome.
Time frame: Up to 2 months
Satisfaction Questionnaire
Brief open-ended questions about program satisfaction. Responses are qualitative.
Time frame: Up to 2 months
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: No
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Sep 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's