Table 1 Intervention overview
Session | Module | Content and learning objectives |
|---|---|---|
Session 1 | Psychoeducation | • Introduction to the programme: goals, overview, and ground rules |
• Participants’ presentation, motivations to participate, and expectations about the intervention | ||
• Identification of current difficulties in dealing with fatigue, prior coping attempts, and their costs-benefits—creative hopelessness | ||
• Psychoeducation about RA and fatigue (e.g. ‘drivers’ and ‘feeders’ of fatigue)—the importance of healthy lifestyle habits (sleep hygiene, physical activity, stress, and pacing) | ||
Session 2 | Psychoeducation and mindfulness skills development | • Psychoeducation about the body-mind link, the function of the mind, and its patterns |
• Promoting mindfulness skills and body awareness • Introducing mindfulness in daily life: | ||
• informal practice | ||
Session 3 | Mindfulness skills development | • Promoting mindfulness skills and body awareness |
• Interoceptive exposure | ||
• Get to know your ‘judgy’ mind | ||
Session 4 | Promoting acceptance | • Control as a never-ending source of suffering |
• Learning to ‘unhook’ and making room for discomfort | ||
Session 5 | Self-compassion | • Cultivating compassion towards others, with a special focus on kindness |
• Compassion from others: an ally or an enemy? | ||
• Exploring new ways of communicating effectively | ||
Session 6 | Self-compassion and loving kindness | • What is compassion got to do with it—compassion flows and compassion towards the self |
• Bringing compassion to the body | ||
• Fostering a different form of self-self and self-other relating | ||
Session 7 | Values and committed action | • Living a meaningful life (values work, identification of ‘drainers’ and ‘energizers’, values-based goals setting) |
• Step-by-step action planning | ||
• Identification of barriers and facilitators to committed action (reinforce the importance of pacing) | ||
Session 8 | Closing session | • Review of the key concepts and take-home messages |
• Identification and discussion of potential setbacks and strategies to deal with them | ||
• Feedback on the intervention and progress made attending to the initial expectations | ||
Follow-up after 2 and 4 months | Booster sessions | • Refreshment of the main concepts; evaluate difficulties in the implementation and/or practice of learned skills; revisit and consolidate mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion exercises from the sessions |