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

Chronic Conditions Course

Background

The Chronic Conditions Course is a new free, online and internet-delivered education 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.

We have developed the Course because we know that many people with chronic health conditions face significant challenges and difficulties in their day-to-day lives, which often affects their emotional wellbeing and quality of life.

Research shows that adults with chronic health conditions are at greater risk of poor emotional wellbeing - e.g., stress, anxiety, worry, low mood, sadness and depression. Furthermore, many people have limited access to help in managing the impact of their chronic health condition or their emotional wellbeing.

We developed the course with the hope of helping people to limit the impact their chronic health conditions have on their day-to-day lives and to maintain good emotional wellbeing despite their health conditions.

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

What conditions have previous participants had?

Some common chronic conditions of our previous participants include:

Heart disease
Stroke
Chronic pain
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Parkinson's disease
Gastrointestinal diseases and conditions (e.g., Crohn's, Celiac, IBS)
Lymphoedema
Rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic conditions
Endometriosis
Epilepsy
Cancer
Diabetes
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Cystic fibrosis
Osteoarthritis and other skeletal conditions
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
And many, many more.

Who is the course suitable for?

The course is suitable for:

Adults aged 18 and older.
With a chronic health condition that is impacting their life and emotional wellbeing.
Who want to learn information and skills to limit the impact of their condition and improve their emotional wellbeing.
Who have at least 4 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, do not have access to the Internet or who are not living in Australia. 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 a chronic health condition 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.
Brief weekly contact with a clinician via email and telephone.

The course is delivered over 8 weeks and is designed to provide good information and teach practical skills for managing the impact of chronic health conditions and maintaining good emotional wellbeing. 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.

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

Although the Course is hard work, more than 90% of participants are also reporting the course is worth their time and that they'd recommend it to others.

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 of the Chronic Conditions Course is examining its effectiveness and helpfulness to people with a very broad range of chronic health conditions, which are themselves impacting people in lots of different ways.

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

When is the next course being offered?

Outside Australia?

We are hoping to offer the course internationally soon - so if you are outside of Australia and would like to participate, please register your interest.

In Australia?

We have finished offering the Chronic Conditions Course for this year. We have had more than 800 people participate in our most recent trial and we are busy reviewing the results and feedback collected as a part of this trial.

We expect to offer the course again in 2024. Please register your interest now and we will contact you when we are next offering the course.